popularmechanics.com
Kyle Mizokami
November 14, 2016
The EMP-like weapon works on drones and cars, not Klingons and Horta.
The U.S. Army is testing a new weapon that shares its name with the handheld laser of "Star Trek" fame. Developed by Raytheon, the Phaser can disable drones and virtually anything electronic with a sweep of its four-foot dish.
The Army's Air Defense branch, which hasn't had much to do for decades because of America's overwhelming air supremacy, is back in the spotlight to fight a new threat. Concern about weaponized drones, especially in light of attacks by the Islamic State against coalition forces, have re-energized the service. The air defenders are testing the Phaser directed energy weapon to shoot down hostile drones.
The Phaser is a high-powered microwave radiation transmitter parked on top of a 20-foot shipping container. Accompanying radars, including the MPQ-64 Sentinel or Close Combat Tactical Radar, would detect, track, and track the target, then hand off that info to the Phaser. Powered by a diesel generator, Phaser can direct a brief jolt of microwave energy in the direction of incoming drones. The energy fries the control systems, stopping their motors and causing drones to fall out of the air.
Phaser has advantages over other anti-drone technologies. Unlike lasers, which direct a thin beam of intense light at a single drone, Phaser broadcasts a swathe of microwave radiation, destroying the electronics of any drone caught in its path. Whereas a laser would need to shoot down every drone in a swarm, Phaser could knock out an entire swarm with a single shot.
The system's effectiveness isn't limited to drones. It works on any electronics, meaning it affects cars, improvised electronic devices, and pretty much anything that uses integrated circuits. It could affect helicopters in flight and the device on which you're reading this article. It could have broader applications on the complex battlefields of today; for example, disabling car speeding towards a friendly checkpoint without having to shoot the occupants. The phenomenon is similar to that generated by Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), a byproduct of a nuclear explosion, or a really, really bad solar storm.
Phaser began testing at Fort Sill, Oklahoma—the home of the Air Defense Artillery branch—in 2013, but was only recently declassified. Certain details, such as the weapon's maximum engagement range, remain secret.
The Army tried out Phaser against Flanker and Tempest drones, two examples of commercially available, fixed-wing drones. Tempest in particular can carry up to eight pounds at speeds of more than 70 miles an hour, basically making it a poor man's cruise missile very difficult for ordinary riflemen to shoot down.
It's pretty amazing that the Army was testing out anti-drone weapons three years before the first actual drone attacks—talk about being able to anticipate the threat. Exactly where the Army's anti-drone program is right now is classified, and who knows, something even better might have come along by now. Regardless, Phaser makes a fairly convincing case for microwave weapons on the battlefield.
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