The demonstrator systems were recently tested at a proving ground in Switzerland, the company said, and downed an unmanned aerial vehicle used as a target and engaged and defeated other threats as well.

"Having recently used a high-energy laser weapon to down an unmanned aircraft at a proving ground in Switzerland, Rheinmetall has demonstrated the operational potential of combining a powerful laser weapon with an advanced air defense system," Rheinmetall said in a news release.

"This event provides compelling proof of the (Rheinmetall) group's 360-degree competence in relevant technologies -- ranging from military lasers and target recognition and identification, to target tracking and fire control units -- and its unrivalled ability to weld them into a single, forward-looking, fully functional full-scale demonstrator."

The live-fire laser demonstration was conducted at Rheinmetall's Ochsenboden proving ground.

One weapon system -- two 5-kilowatt laser weapon modules -- was integrated into an air defense system using an Oerlikon Skyguard 3 fire control unit and a Skyshield gun turret. The second, a 1-kW laser weapon module, was mounted on a TM 170-type vehicle.

Both laser weapon demonstrators were used in different scenarios: protecting against asymmetric, terrorist-type threats; countering incoming rockets, artillery and mortar rounds; and defending against an aircraft target.

Rheinmetall said the 1-kW laser weapon demonstrator successfully sank a moving rubber raft (substituting as a speedboat) and was also effective in destroying improvised explosive devices and in neutralizing unexploded ordnance.

In the artillery, mortar and rocket scenario, the 10-kW laser demonstrator showed that the doubling the laser output from the 5-kW of the 2010 design improved performance and reduced the time to engage a target by half.

The 10-kW weapon in the anti-aircraft scenario successfully detected, tracked, engaged and destroyed a UAV in flight.

The live-fire demonstration at the Ochsenboden proving ground, the company said, shows the company has the skill and expertise to develop complex laser weapon systems.

Rheinmetall said it expects to have a 100-kW a laser weapon system available for customers in three to five years but, even today, the modular, scalable design of the lasers demonstrated are able to meet a variety of military weapon requirements.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Sunnyvale CA (SPX) Oct 25, 2011 - Paul Shattuck, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company's director for directed energy systems, received a 2011 Outstanding Aerospace Engineer (OAE) Award from Purdue University's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at a ceremony in West Lafayette.

"The members of the faculty are very proud of Paul's accomplishments," said Tom I-P. Shih, professor and head of the school. "He is a positive role model for our students, and among an elite group. The 149 OAEs awarded to date represent less than 1 percent of the school's alumni."

The school established the award in 1999 to honor alumni for their demonstrated excellence in industry, academia, government service or other endeavors that reflect the value of an aerospace degree.

"Paul has been a pioneer in demonstrating the military utility of high energy lasers," said Doug Graham, vice president of advanced programs, Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "We are very proud that he has received this well-deserved recognition from Purdue University for his many accomplishments."

Shattuck leads Lockheed Martin's pioneering work in directed energy systems to create unsurpassed capabilities for war fighters in strategic and tactical applications, including missile defense and aircraft self defense.

He oversees programs involving adaptive and electro-optical beam control/fire control systems, illuminator lasers and fiber lasers, and integration of complex weapons systems on a variety of platforms.

"I am grateful for the engineering foundation that I received while an undergraduate student at Purdue," said Shattuck.

"The disciplined approaches to problem solving and technical background in control systems and applied math have served me well in each and every endeavor that I've been involved in during my career. It's been a rewarding journey."

Shattuck has more than 35 years of experience in space, launch, airborne and ground systems ranging from planning through systems engineering and integration through design and delivery.

He has technical expertise in telerobotics, mission analysis, flight software, precision pointing and control and other advanced technologies. He has led teams working on Titan launch vehicles and upper stage rockets, remotely operated robots for the International Space Station, various satellite programs and high energy laser beam control systems.

Shattuck received his bachelor's of science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University and a master's of science in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has two acquisition management degrees from the Defense Systems Management College.

He is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Shattuck also has authored papers on beam control, guidance and controls, controls and structures interactions, automation and robotics, modeling and simulation, beam control, tracking and pointing, and integration and test of directed energy systems.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Albuquerque NM (SPX) Jul 26, 2011 - Boeing has announced that its Directed Energy Systems (DES) division has signed a teaming agreement with BAE Systems to develop the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System for defense of U.S. Navy ships.

The Navy awarded the BAE Systems team an initial contract in March to build a demonstrator unit of the system. Boeing is a subcontractor to BAE Systems under this contract.

"Boeing is committed to developing this directed energy system that will significantly enhance ship defense," said Michael Rinn, Boeing DES vice president.

"Combining BAE's engineering expertise with the proven directed-energy proficiency of Boeing's DES division creates a team uniquely qualified to integrate directed-energy technology into the Navy's shipboard armaments."

The Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System couples a solid-state high-energy laser weapon module with the operational Mk 38 Machine Gun System.

The addition of the laser weapon module brings high-precision accuracy against surface and air targets such as small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles. The system also provides the ability to deliver different levels of laser energy, depending on the target and mission objectives.

Boeing and BAE Systems have been working together for the past two years to develop this capability. In 2010, Boeing DES conducted two experiments in the field to demonstrate the system's ability to track surface targets and maintain a laser aimpoint with high precision.

"The Mk 38 Mod 2 system is revolutionary because it combines kinetic and directed energy weapons capability," said Rinn. "Our approach is an affordable solution for the customer, because this system can be integrated seamlessly into existing shipboard command interfaces."

The Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System project unites Albuquerque-based Boeing DES - the industry leader in directed energy and acquisition, pointing and tracking systems - with BAE Systems, a leading designer and supplier of major shipboard armaments to the U.S. Navy.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Huntsville AL (SPX) Jun 28, 2011 - Boeing recently completed system integration of key components for the U.S. Army's High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD). The integration included installation of the Beam Control System and critical hardware onto the Oshkosh Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, HEL TD's vehicle platform.

This milestone helps prepare HEL TD for low-power system testing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The tests, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011, will demonstrate the system's ability to acquire, track and target moving projectiles.

"Now that HEL TD is fully assembled, we are ready to take this program from the lab into the field for real-world tests," said Mike Rinn, vice president, Boeing Directed Energy Systems.

"Our team is eager to demonstrate the ultra-precision, speed-of-light benefits of multi-mission directed energy technologies, which will help the Army effectively and efficiently counter a variety of threats including rockets, artillery, mortars and UAVs. Boeing is committed to providing this advanced capability to the warfighter, and we appreciate the confidence that the Army has shown in our efforts on this program."

The HEL TD system integration was accomplished at the Boeing facilities in Huntsville, where Boeing integrates other systems on Army vehicles.

"We are applying the best of Boeing to deliver this groundbreaking technology to the warfighter as soon as possible," said Blaine Beardsley, Boeing HEL TD program manager.

In operation, HEL TD will acquire, track and select an aimpoint on a target. Next, the system will receive the laser beam from the HEL TD laser device, reshape and align the beam, and then focus it on the target. The system includes mirrors, high-speed processors and high-speed optical sensors.

HEL TD is a cornerstone of the Army's high-energy laser program and will support the transition of directed energy technologies to Army acquisition programs. The Army HEL TD system is managed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command headquarters at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Waltham, MA (SPX) Jun 16, 2011 - Raytheon has acquired key business assets of Ktech Corporation to expand its capabilities and opportunities in the non-kinetic effects markets. The transaction is not expected to materially impact Raytheon's sales or earnings in the second quarter or full year 2011. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Located in Albuquerque, N.M., Ktech will become part of Raytheon Company's Missile Systems business.

"Ktech's expertise in directed energy and pulsed power make it a natural fit with Raytheon's Advanced Security and Directed Energy Systems product line," said Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, Raytheon Missile Systems president. "Ktech brings world-class people, technology and strong relationships with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to Raytheon and its customers."

Ktech is a leader in pulsed power systems engineering. The company's compact pulsed power systems, combined with its high efficiency magnetron technology, will enable increased integration of directed energy weapons on combat platforms.

Ktech is also a leader in development of linear accelerator technology for government and commercial applications. The company brings its high power microwave, compact pulsed power system design, and RF and particle code simulation capabilities to Raytheon, as well as extensive experience in explosive pulsed power, diagnostics and effects testing.

"Ktech's capabilities will gain greater market opportunity when fused with Raytheon's leadership in directed energy, its global reach and ability to develop high value, differentiated solutions for its customers," said Steve Downie, Ktech president.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Arlington, VA (SPX) Apr 12, 2011 - Marking a milestone for the Navy, the Office of Naval Research and its industry partner have successfully tested a solid-state, high-energy laser (HEL) from a surface ship, which disabled a small target vessel.

The Navy and Northrop Grumman completed at-sea testing of the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD), which validated the potential to provide advanced self-defense for surface ships and personnel by keeping small boat threats at a safe distance.

"The success of this high-energy laser test is a credit to the collaboration, cooperation and teaming of naval labs at Dahlgren, China Lake, Port Hueneme and Point Mugu, Calif.," said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Nevin Carr. "ONR coordinated each of their unique capabilities into one cohesive effort."

The latest test occurred near San Nicholas Island, off the coast of Central California in the Pacific Ocean test range. The laser was mounted onto the deck of the Navy's self-defense test ship, former USS Paul Foster (DD 964).

Carr also recognized the Office of the Secretary of Defense's High Energy Joint Technology Office and the Army's Joint High Powered Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program for their work. MLD leverages the Army's JHPSSL effort.

"This is the first time a HEL, at these power levels, has been put on a Navy ship, powered from that ship and used to defeat a target at-range in a maritime environment," said Peter Morrison, program officer for ONR's MLD.

In just slightly more than two-and-a-half years, the MLD has gone from contract award to demonstrating a Navy ship defensive capability, he said.

"We are learning a ton from this program-how to integrate and work with directed energy weapons," Morrison said. "All test results are extremely valuable regardless of the outcome."

Additionally, the Navy accomplished several other benchmarks, including integrating MLD with a ship's radar and navigation system and firing an electric laser weapon from a moving platform at-sea in a humid environment. Other tests of solid state lasers for the Navy have been conducted from land-based positions.

Having access to a HEL weapon will one day provide warfighter with options when encountering a small-boat threat, Morrison said.

But while April's MLD test proves the ability to use a scalable laser to thwart small vessels at range, the technology will not replace traditional weapon systems, Carr added.

"From a science and technology point of view, the marriage of directed energy and kinetic energy weapon systems opens up a new level of deterrence into scalable options for the commander. This test provides an important data point as we move toward putting directed energy on warships. There is still much work to do to make sure it's done safely and efficiently," the admiral said.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Point Mugu, CA (SPX) Apr 11, 2011 - The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman have successfully demonstrated high-energy, solid-state laser defenses at sea by completing a "counter-material" test of the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD) against small boats.

Northrop Grumman designed and built the MLD for the Office of Naval Research, leveraging a laser built by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command /Army Forces Strategic Command and the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office.

Open ocean tests were conducted between October 2010 and April 2011 at the Pacific Ocean Test Range near San Nicolas Island off the Central California coast. For these tests, the laser system was installed on the Navy's Self Defense Test Ship, the USS Paul Foster.

While underway, the MLD system initially tracked and lased land targets. The solid-state, directed energy system then tracked and damaged moving, remotely piloted, unmanned small boats traveling at representative speeds and ranges, company executives said.

"The results show that all critical technologies for an operational laser weapon system are mature enough to begin a formal weapon system development program," said Steve Hixson, vice president, space and directed energy systems at Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. "Solid-state laser weapons are ready to transition to the fleet."

Hixson said the MLD team accomplished several notable firsts, including:

+ First Navy laser system to go to sea, installed on a decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer, for the program's culminating demonstration;

+ First Navy laser system to be integrated with a ship's radar and navigation system; and

+ First electric laser weapon to be fired at sea from a moving platform. Other tests of solid-state lasers for the Navy have been conducted from land-based positions.

"During the latest demonstrations, MLD spent a total of three days at sea, during which we operated the laser at high power more than 35 times," according to Dan Wildt, vice president, directed energy systems. "The laser withstood the stresses of wave heights up to seven-and-a-half feet."

Laser Maturity
"Based on Northrop Grumman's proven laser technology developed for the Defense Department's Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program, the MLD system is proving the readiness of laser systems for shipboard use," Wildt said.

"This is phenomenal for a first-generation demonstrator, and proves we know how to fully ruggedize operational systems to follow. We have demonstrated the ability of lasers to address one of several threats of interest to Navy," he continued.

Results of the at-sea tests will be used by the Navy to help guide engineering manufacturing development phase of a Navy laser weapon system and transition it to a program of record for up to eight classes of ships the Navy has identified as likely platforms.

Capability and Affordability
According to Jay Marmo, the company's MLD program manager, the open ocean tests collectively showed that a laser weapon system can effectively operate in a challenging maritime environment and overcome such obstacles as atmospheric conditions, waves and the motions of both the host and target vessels, while also meeting capability requirements for self-defense.

"In the future, lasers will operate synergistically with kinetic energy weapons to optimize ship defenses," Marmo said. "Lasers can address a number of emerging threats, enabling the fleet to maintain freedom of operation, yet with a very low cost of operation. Lasers will offset the use of higher cost kinetic defenses for a number of these threats, substantially reducing the total cost of ship defense."

As a primary provider of high-power laser defense systems for the U.S. military, Northrop Grumman has built a number of high-energy lasers that have shot down airborne threats in flight. Major laser systems the company has developed include Mid Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, Alpha, Tactical High Energy Laser and the megawatt-class laser aboard the Airborne Laser Test Bed, along with the JHPSSL system.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST New Haven, CT (SPX) Feb 24, 2011 - More than 50 years after the invention of the laser, scientists at Yale University have built the world's first anti-laser, in which incoming beams of light interfere with one another in such a way as to perfectly cancel each other out.

The discovery could pave the way for a number of novel technologies with applications in everything from optical computing to radiology.

Conventional lasers, which were first invented in 1960, use a so-called "gain medium," usually a semiconductor like gallium arsenide, to produce a focused beam of coherent light-light waves with the same frequency and amplitude that are in step with one another.

Last summer, Yale physicist A. Douglas Stone and his team published a study explaining the theory behind an anti-laser, demonstrating that such a device could be built using silicon, the most common semiconductor material.

But it wasn't until now, after joining forces with the experimental group of his colleague Hui Cao, that the team actually built a functioning anti-laser, which they call a coherent perfect absorber (CPA).

The team, whose results appear in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science, focused two laser beams with a specific frequency into a cavity containing a silicon wafer that acted as a "loss medium."

The wafer aligned the light waves in such a way that they became perfectly trapped, bouncing back and forth indefinitely until they were eventually absorbed and transformed into heat.

Stone believes that CPAs could one day be used as optical switches, detectors and other components in the next generation of computers, called optical computers, which will be powered by light in addition to electrons.

Another application might be in radiology, where Stone said the principle of the CPA could be employed to target electromagnetic radiation to a small region within normally opaque human tissue, either for therapeutic or imaging purposes.

Theoretically, the CPA should be able to absorb 99.999 percent of the incoming light. Due to experimental limitations, the team's current CPA absorbs 99.4 percent.

"But the CPA we built is just a proof of concept," Stone said. "I'm confident we will start to approach the theoretical limit as we build more sophisticated CPAs."

Similarly, the team's first CPA is about one centimeter across at the moment, but Stone said that computer simulations have shown how to build one as small as six microns (about one-twentieth the width of an average human hair).

The team that built the CPA, led by Cao and another Yale physicist, Wenjie Wan, demonstrated the effect for near-infrared radiation, which is slightly "redder" than the eye can see and which is the frequency of light that the device naturally absorbs when ordinary silicon is used.

But the team expects that, with some tinkering of the cavity and loss medium in future versions, the CPA will be able to absorb visible light as well as the specific infrared frequencies used in fiber optic communications.

It was while explaining the complex physics behind lasers to a visiting professor that Stone first came up with the idea of an anti-laser.

When Stone suggested his colleague think about a laser working in reverse in order to help him understand how a conventional laser works, Stone began contemplating whether it was possible to actually build a laser that would work backwards, absorbing light at specific frequencies rather than emitting it.

"It went from being a useful thought experiment to having me wondering whether you could really do that," Stone said. "After some research, we found that several physicists had hinted at the concept in books and scientific papers, but no one had ever developed the idea."

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST New Haven, Conn. (UPI) Feb 17, 2011 - U.S. researchers have announced the development of the world's first "anti-laser," a device that can absorb and cancel out a laser beam.

Scientists at Yale University say the silicon-based device can absorb an incoming laser beam entirely, converting its light to heat energy, the BBC reported Thursday. The technology could lead to a new generation of supercomputers using light rather than electrons, the researchers say.

The anti-laser device can focus two laser beams of a specific frequency into an optical cavity made from silicon, trapping the incoming beams of light and causing them to bounce around until all their energy is dissipated in the form of heat.

Changing the wavelength of the incoming light switches the anti-laser on and off, creating an optical switch that could be the basis of a very fast optically-based computer.

Using silicon to create the anti-laser means optical components could be manufactured using current technology, researchers say, since the material is already widely used in computing.

One thing the anti-laser will not do is create a "shield" against a high-power laser weapon, the researchers say.

"The energy gets dissipated as heat," Yale professor Douglas Stone says. "So if someone sets a laser on you with enough power to fry you, the anti-laser won't stop you from frying."

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Princeton, N.J. (UPI) Jan 28, 2011 - U.S. scientists say a new "air laser" will allow soldiers to detect hidden explosives from a distance and help scientists measure airborne pollutants.

Researchers at Princeton University say they've developed a technique for generating a beam of laser light out of nothing but air, a university release said Friday.

"We are able to send a laser pulse out and get another pulse back from the air itself," says Richard Miles, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton. "The returning beam interacts with the molecules in the air and carries their fingerprints."

Unlike previous remote laser-sensing methods, in which the returning beam of light is just a reflection of the outgoing beam, the "air laser" creates an entirely new laser beam generated by oxygen atoms whose electrons have been "excited" to high energy levels.

Using an ultraviolet laser pulse focused on a tiny patch of air, similar to the way a magnifying glass focuses sunlight into a hot spot, oxygen atoms in the hot spot become excited as their electrons get pumped up to high energy levels, eventually creating a coherent laser beam aimed straight back at the original laser, researchers say.

"In general, when you want to determine if there are contaminants in the air you need to collect a sample of that air and test it," Miles said. "But with remote sensing you don't need to do that. If there's a bomb buried on the road ahead of you, you'd like to detect it by sampling the surrounding air, much like bomb-sniffing dogs can do, except from far away."

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:07:19 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D