Battlefield Lasers Being Developed Will Protect Front-Line Troops

Gauracandra · December 4, 2001

Scientists and engineers at the Army's High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility are making these "directed energy" weapons smaller, cheaper and more lethal.

Some of their work was demonstrated to a group of journalists Tuesday to kick off a three-day symposium in El Paso on missile and space defense.

"I need to have a weapon that is effective, efficient, within cost and get it out to the battlefield," said test facility director Lt. Col. Lyn Tronti.

The weapon closest to seeing combat duty is the Tactical High Energy Laser, which is being developed in cooperation with Israel. The weapon, a laser powered by chemical reactions, was designed to help Israel protect its northern cities from short-range supersonic rockets with conventional warheads.

In tests, THEL has successfully destroyed 25 Katyusha rockets that were captured in Lebanon, including a June 6, 2000, test where the laser destroyed two rockets launched at nearly the same time.

However, the last test was in August because of budget problems. Development of THEL is expected to be back on track in the near future with money allocated for fiscal year 2002, said project director Gerald Wilson.

The laser was to be set up on permanent sites in Israel, but as political realities changed, so did the requirements for the laser.

"They no longer have a buffer zone," Wilson said. "A fixed site ... was not acceptable anymore, it's too vulnerable."

So, THEL researchers will be working to put the equipment on a vehicle that resembles a tractor-trailer.

Wilson said the ultimate objective is to put the THEL on a vehicle 10 times smaller, such as an amphibious vehicle. THEL also is being adapted to shoot down artillery shells, which have no heat signal and must be tracked optically, and mortars that only provide about 20 seconds to track and destroy.

"The (mobile THEL) is 50 times more complex," Wilson said. "We have to be able to deal with everything from terrorists up to a full-scale war."

But the THEL is expensive to fire, costing $3,000 or more per shot because of the exotic chemicals used. It also requires supply lines to keep the weapon charged with chemicals.

A new type of solid-state laser that can be powered with rechargeable batteries also is being developed and tested at the facility.

The new laser, called the Solid State Heat Capacity Laser is about five feet long and a foot-and-a-half wide and will be small enough to be installed on an electric-powered Humvee.

"Those two couple very well together," said program director Randy Buff. The electric laser costs about 25 cents a shot, he said.

"The one you see today is the baby, it's a starting point," Tronti said.

The system uses crystals to store large amounts of energy that are released when the laser is fired. The laser weapons vaporize metal.

"We basically put the temperature of the sun on the target and within short order, it explodes," Wilson said.

The grandaddy of all the laser weapons is the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, known as MIRACL, which fills a large building and its surroundings at the test site. It was first fired up in 1984 and has provided the groundwork for the other lasers.

A laser shot can last from a fraction of a second to a few seconds. A shot using the powerful MIRACL costs up to $6,000 per second just for the required chemicals.

Tronti said that in about three years, MIRACL will be replaced with one of the other lasers.

"Because of the advancement of technology, you don't need something that powerful," Tronti said. "It's old and it costs money to maintain. It doesn't mean we should close MIRACL. If somebody wants to use it, they pay for those costs."