DOW-UAP-D137, AAWSAP DIRD, State of the Art and Evolution of High-Energy Lasers, March 2010

Department of War · 3/31/10 · Las Vegas, Nevada · Document

DOW-UAP-D137, AAWSAP DIRD, State of the Art and Evolution of High-Energy Lasers, March 2010 is indexed as a Department of War record with incident date 3/31/10 and location Las Vegas, Nevada. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD surveys the development of high-energy laser weapons and notes that, although lasers had already become important military tools for ranging, guidance, and other lower-power uses, true weapon-class systems remained limited by power generation, beam control, atmospheric propagation, and logistics. The report reviews major laser types along with the optical, tracking, and thermal-management systems needed to make them militarily useful. It argues that high-energy lasers can offer important advantages over kinetic weapons in speed, precision, and low collateral damage, especially against softer or fast-moving targets, while also emphasizing that practical deployment has long been hindered by hazardous chemical fuels, thermal blooming in the atmosphere, power-supply constraints for mobile systems, and waste-heat removal. Redactions have been made to protect the identity of eyewitnesses, the location of government facilities, or potentially sensitive information about military sites not related to UAP. No redactions have been made to any files released under President Trump's directive concerning information about the nature or existence of any encounter reported as a UAP or related phenomena.

Notable / anomalous element

• Single Pulse Maximum Permissible Exposure Vulnerability of Spacecraft to Laser Radiation Man-made objects in space, whether in earth-orbit or beyond and manned or unmanned, have attributes which lead to unique laser radiation vulnerabilities: Whole-body vulnerability Spacecraft operate in a delicate thermal. (native PDF text, page 27)
• Recommendations If there are concerns about the potential vulnerability of future spacecraft to laser radiation, then the following recommendations are offered: Optical components, such as horizon sensors, should have their telescopes baffled and shielded to preclude the entrance of off-axis scattered light. (native PDF text, page 30)
• COIL generates light in a more complex process which does not involve combustion but still releases considerable heat. (native PDF text, page 10)
• New approaches to injecting the pump light and controlling the laser beam as it is generated or amplified are occurring almost daily. (native PDF text, page 13)

Details

• This product is one in a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009 under the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Warning Office's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. (native PDF text, page 2)
• Comments or questions pertaining to l this document should be addressed to!AAP Person 1 AAWSA Program Manager, Defense Intelligence Agency, ATTN: CLAR/DWO-3, Bldg 6000, Washington, DC 20340-5100. ii UNCLASSIFIED//J;QA GFJ;IGlifil W&& 8HlV (native PDF text, page 2)
• 1 Basic Attributes of Kinetic Energy and HEL Weapons. (native PDF text, page 3)
• 11 Beam Control and Atmospheric Propagation of Laser Devices. (native PDF text, page 3)
• 12 Brief History of DOD Laser Weapon Research. (native PDF text, page 3)
• 20 Vulnerability of Spacecraft to Laser Radiation. (native PDF text, page 3)
• 22 Projection of Future HEL Weapon Capability. (native PDF text, page 3)
• Incoherent Combination of Single Mode Lasers in a Fiber Combiner. (native PDF text, page 4)

Tags: War Department, Nevada, AAWSAP, Technical research, Weapons, Lights