The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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USAF Building Disruptor Capability Right Now
by James Dunnigan
January 15, 2009
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
The U.S. Air Force doesn't say much about its work on high-powered
microwave (HPM) weapons. But recently the air force asked defense firms to bid
on a contract to build CHAMP (Counter-Electronics HPM Advanced Missile
Project). The air force wants a missile (or a pod for aircraft) that can give
off several burst of HPM (that will damage or destroy any electronic gear
within a certain range), and thus take out several targets. This CHAMP contract
will pay $40 million to the winning bid, and allow 36 months to come up with a
weapon that works. If that is accomplished, the CHAMP system would be in
service within 4-5 years.
Meanwhile,
quietly, and without much fanfare, the U.S. Air Force has been equipping some
of its fighters with electronic ray type weapons. Not quite the death ray of
science fiction fame, but an electronic ray type weapon none the less. In this
case, the weapon uses the high-powered microwave (HPM) effects found in Active
Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar technology. These radars have been
around a long time, popular mainly for their ability deal with lots of targets
simultaneously. But AESA is also able to
focus a concentrated beam of radio energy that could scramble electronic
components of a distant target. Sort of like the EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse)
put out by nuclear weapons.
The air
force won't, for obvious reasons, discuss the exact kill range of the of the
various models of AESA radars on American warplanes (the F-15, F-35 and F-22
have them). However, it is known that range in this case is an elastic thing.
Depending on how well the target electronics are hardened against EMP, more
electrical power will be required to do damage. Moreover, the electrical power
of the various AESA radars in service varies as well. The air force has said
that the larger AESA radar it plans to install on its E-10 radar aircraft would
be able to zap cruise missile guidance systems up to 180 kilometers away. The
E-10 AESA is several times larger than the one in the F-35 (the largest in use
now), so make your own estimates. Smaller versions of this technology would arm
the CHAMP system.
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