Lasers, microwave technology among AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate's works

  • Published
  • By Eva Blaylock
  • Air Force Research Laboratory Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  For as long as we've been around, we've looked to the heavens for guidance, for divine assistance and for the answers to those glittering and twinkling objects that move with the rising and setting of the moon.

We've also tried to unlock the secrets to nonlethal options in battle and stumped ourselves as to how to better communicate with our own while protecting our freedoms and posterity.

The essential ingredients to getting closer to those answers include some innovative thinking, a lot of elbow grease, a quantity of electricity and a collection of great minds. As luck would have it, the Air Force Research Laboratory happens to have all of those ingredients, lined up and ready in the cupboard of the Directed Energy Directorate.

The Directed Energy Directorate is one-tenth of the Air Force Research Laboratory headquartered at Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio. Along with its sister, the Space Vehicles Directorate, DE is located at the Phillips Research Site here. The organization of more than 800 people, including in-house contractors develops directed energies such as high-energy lasers and highpowered microwaves, and works on optics and imaging capabilities unrivaled in the Department of Defense.

DE operates on a budget of over $300 million a year and does so via 670,000 square feet of working space. It provides these far-reaching and aheadof- their-time technologies expressly to aid the warfighter under guidance of the lab's parent organization, the Air Force Materiel Command.

The organization is divided into three technical divisions, including the High Power Microwave, Laser and Optics Divisions, and one division intended to take those developing technologies from the test bench to the warfighter, the Technology Applications Division. Supporting the research is the Financial and Program Management Division, which manages the directorate's strategic development and balances the DE checkbook, and the Integration and Operations Division, which provides administrative support and personnel-oriented capabilities.

The High-Power Microwave Division is the Department of Defense's most advanced center in this area, managing the research and development of highpower microwave technologies, including protection against an aggressor's microwave systems. Systems like Active Denial, a nonlethal technology intended to repel enemies without lasting damage, reside in this division. Active Denial causes a severe heating sensation but dissipates as soon as the column of energy is turned off or away. Currently, scientists are working to place Active Denial on an airborne platform -- a C-130 -- to extend its range and utility.

The Laser Division is the Air Force's center of expertise for developing high-energy laser systems for U.S. military forces. This division performs cutting- edge research and development of transformational technologies, concentrating on semiconductor, gas, chemical, and solid-state lasers. An example of the scientific contributions made by division scientists is the invention of the Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser, a megawatt- class laser used on the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser to destroy attacking ballistic missiles while in boost phase. The directorate works with multi-service organizations like the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office to advance lasers for myriad applications.

The Optics Division conducts research to improve optical and imaging systems to improve the nation's ability to view objects in space, as well as developing technologies to accurately put highenergy laser energy on target. The division operates the largest and most sophisticated telescope facilities in the Defense Department, conducting experiments at the Starfire Optical Range here, North Oscura Peak on White Sands Missile Range and at Hawaii's Maui Space Surveillance Site.

One of the latest research efforts is the Relay Mirror Program, which entails placing a two mirror system suspended below a high-altitude airship that receives a high-energy laser, adjusts and reconfigures the beam for atmospheric turbulence, and transmits that same energy to another location. In this way, the laser's range and beam efficiency are dramatically improved.

The Technology Applications Division concentrates on taking the technologies being developed by the other divisions and transitioning that research to other warfighting organizations. This division monitors potential DOD needs and develops opportunities for transferring directed energy systems to front-line Defense Department units.

The directorate funnels the nearly 500 at any given time projects into six major "product" lines or emphasis areas. The first involves technologies that protect U.S. people and resources; another that gives field commanders more information about space assets; and a third that capitalizes on the global advantages and uses of high-power lasers. A fourth area concentrates on lasers in a tactical role, while a fifth homes in on radio frequency and high-power microwave technologies for electronic attacks to eliminate enemy threats without causing physical destruction. The sixth area examines the directed-energy research that doesn't fit exactly into the other five areas.

The Air Force Research Laboratory is responsible for research and technology development in support of the Air Force's future and existing aerospace and space weapons systems. Comprised of nine technology directorates and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Research Laboratory has approximately 6,000 military and civilian employees at nine bases throughout the United States.