The U.S Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center Dalgren Division or NSWCDD has created a new division specifically
for researching and developing High-Power Microwave (HPM) directed energy
weapons.
Unlike lasers which the navy
also is investing in heavily, this
emerging class of weapon systems uses
bursts of microwave energy to disrupt or
destroy the electronics inside various
enemy systems, including drones, small
boats and missiles.
Prior to this reorganization, one NSWCDD research division was responsible for
both laser weapons and HPM.
In a naval sea systems command press
release announcing the creation of the
new division, weapon systems division
head Kevin Cogley says, however that
lasers and HPM weapons can actually
complement laser weapons rather than
compete with them.
HPM and lasers work in
parallel in a lot of areas, cogli said. One thing that is unique in the HPM arena is that we can have graduated
effects.
In HPM, we can have a range of effects on
target from basically jamming a device
to physically destroying electrical
systems. While this class of weapons isn't new
per se, continuing technological advances
in miniaturization and efficiency are
making microwaves attractive for a wide
variety of new applications.
Cogley also briefly outlined the unique
benefits and capabilities that microwave
weapons offer.
HPM is very different than many other
weapon systems because in many cases you
may not see any outward physical effects
during an engagement but will see nearly
instant results on the target's
operational performance, cogli said.
Using HPM we can give our sailors a
capability that could be a desirable
alternative to firing a kinetic weapon. One of the most attractive aspects of
high power microwaves and other directed
energy systems is that they offer a much
lower cost per shot than kinetic weapons, which can sometimes total in the
millions for a single munition.
Directed energy weapons offer another
unique advantage over kinetic weapons, magazine depth. Whereas kinetic weapons have fixed
magazine sizes and must be physically
reloaded, a HPM weapon could have an
unlimited magazine at least in a
physical sense.
In addition, HPM systems can potentially
operate in a less than lethal manner
meaning they may be able to disable
manned vehicles them without directly
harming the occupants inside. Such a capability could potentially
alter the rules of engagement and allow
navy vessels to engage and disable small
manned craft without inflicting physical
harm on their occupants.
Aside from engaging surface vehicles, HPM weapons are well suited for use in Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (CUAS) rolls. Small drones which are becoming more and
more of a threat to a wide variety of
navy and DOD assets are difficult for
some air defense systems to track and
target.
Unlike lasers which typically fire a
focused beam for short periods of time, HPM weapons can fire wide area
cone-shaped beams enabling them to
engage multiple UAS at once.
According to navsea's announcement of
the reorganization, this sets nswcdd
ahead of the curve for HPM testing.
With this new reorganization NSWCDD becomes one of only two
department of defense facilities with a
dedicated HPM division alongside the air
force research laboratory's directed
energy directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.
According to naval sea systems command, Navsea these two laboratories
collaborate on the largest HPM projects
in the country, offense applications, counter unmanned aerial systems and
integrated air defense topics.
HPM systems are also being eyed for
missiles with non-kinetic payloads such
as the joint UAF navy hijanks project, as well as for use in space aboard
anti-satellite systems although these
technologies remain highly classified.
