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Sodium Guidestar at the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate's Starfire Optical Range

The Sodium Guidestar at the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate's Starfire Optical Range.

AFRL telescope

The 3.6-meter, 75-ton Advanced Electro-Optics System telescope at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Air Force Maui Optical & Supercomputing site is the largest telescope in the Department of Defense. The telescope is designed for collecting data with visible and infrared sensors to track satellites and other objects in the near-Earth region and in deep-space. (Photo courtesy AFRL)

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AFRL telescope

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Air Force Week/AFRL

1st Lt. Jason Holzman, Air Force Research Laboratory, explains how lasers work to members of a Boys and Girls Club during 2012 Air Force Week in New York City in August. Courtesy Photo

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AFRL team wins award

Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research Star Team. Members are, from left, Dr. Denis Oesch, Julie Smith, Pat Kelly, Dr. Tom Farrell and Dr. Darryl Sanchez. Courtesy photo

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Processed image of the Space Shuttle Atlantis

Image of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its final flight on May 26, 2010, captured by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Maui Space Surveillance System’s, 1.6-meter telescope. The Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site’s Physically Constrained Iterative Deconvolution (PCID) software enabled the clear image. U.S. Air Force photo

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Raw image of the Space Shuttle Atlantis

Raw image of the Space Shuttle Atlantis captured on its final flight, May 26, 2010, by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site. U.S. Air Force photo

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Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) telescope

Air Force Research Laboratory’s 3.6-meter, 75-ton Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) telescope under laser illumination at its Directed Energy Directorate’s Air Force Maui Optical and Surveillance Site, Maui, Hawaii. The illumination resulted from the multi-wave length laser propagation experiments that were completed at over 10,000 feet and over a 90-mile path between Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii and the Air Force site atop the extinct volcano, Haleakala, on Maui, Hawaii. U.S. Air Force Photo by Rob Ratkowski

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Air Force Research Laboratory physicist attains special recognition

Dr. Venkata S.R. Gudimetla, senior research physicist of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate, and is assigned to their Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site, Maui, Hawaii. U.S. Air Force photograph

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ACE is the Air Force’s only Distributed Mission Operations experimentation war game designed to demonstrate directed energy technology concepts for military applications.

Capt. Jason Webb, section chief of the High Power Microwave division with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate, observes war games on his computer. Courtesy Photo

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Technology Applications Division/Systems Engineering and Analysis Branch

Wargaming allows technology developers to refine concept of operations and monitor directed energy systems in a military battlefield environment. In addition to participating in various wargames, The Branch hosts an annual Advanced Concepts Event. ACE educates warfighters on directed energy capabilities and effects through the war gaming experience. These same warfighters provide critical feedback on directed energy systems. U.S. Air Force photo

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Counter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Demonstration

Using a surrogate high energy laser on the Mobil Active Targeting Resource for Integrated Experiments (MATRIX), several UAVs were successfully illuminated and tracked in flight. MATRIX integrated a laser range finder allowing for real-time automated optimization of the laser beam. It recorded video and provided range data to cue the Microwave Emitting Ground Attack (MEGA) device, the first known cue from a laser range finder to a microwave device. MEGA affected the UAVs autopilot and communications equipment for a successful negation. U.S. Air Force photo

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Shiva Star

Research into the military applications of high-energy pulsed power systems is conducted in the 34,261-square-foot Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate, High Power Systems Facility. The facility houses Shiva Star, the Air Force largest pulsed-power system. Shiva Star stores nearly 10 million joules of energy (equal to 5 pounds of TNT). U.S. Air Force photo.

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Active Denial System

The Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate Active Denial System is a counter-personnel, non-lethal, directed energy weapon. Traveling at the speed of light, the energy strikes the subject and only reaches a skin depth of about 1/64th of an inch. It produces a heat sensation that within seconds becomes intolerable and forces the targeted individual to instinctively move. U.S. Air Force photo.

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Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHaSR)

The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHaSR) is a rifle-sized laser weapon system that uses two non-lethal laser wavelengths to deter, prevent, or mitigate an adversary’s effectiveness. The laser light generated by this weapon illuminates or “dazzles” aggressors, temporarily impairing individuals and their ability to see the laser source.

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