Research Summaries

Back Directed Energy Weapon Operational Deployment in Various Atmospheric Conditions

Fiscal Year 2018
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Physics
Investigator(s) Cohn, Keith R.
Blau, Joseph A.
Sponsor Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems (Navy)
Summary As the USN moves forward with plans to deploy directed energy (DE) weapons to the fleet, further research on atmospheric effects is needed. This would help guide the Navy in developing tactics for DE weapons in various scenarios. The goal is real-time atmospheric characterization to inform Combat System automation.
An important atmospheric effect is ship-induced optical turbulence. We recently conducted an experiment onboard the Self Defense Test Ship at Port Hueneme to study this effect. Results indicate that it could impact DE weapon performance, and warrants further study. We plan to repeat the experiment on platforms such as the DDG 51 FltIIA that are slated for DE weapon deployment. For a full understanding of this effect, measurements should be taken in various weather conditions, both in port and ultimately at sea. The results of these experiments will be incorporated into our laser performance model (ANCHOR) and other wave propagation codes to estimate the effect of ship-induced turbulence on target irradiance.
Another topic we will study is contaminants on the optics and in the air from kinetic weapons, and their impact on laser performance. We will obtain information on these contaminants from NSWC Dahlgren and other sources, and incorporate it into our ANCHOR model.
Since ANCHOR runs very rapidly, it could form the basis for a real-time tool for predicting laser performance, incorporating local meteorology measurements and atmospheric forecasts from models such as COAMPS. This would be a useful tool for the warfighter, and could be used to inform an automated Combat System. We propose enhancements to ANCHOR to facilitate this application of it.
A further goal of this research is to continue educating naval officers at NPS about directed energy weapons and their effects. These officers will conduct thesis research to contribute to this project.
Keywords Directed Energy High Energy Laser
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal