September4,2023
Thanks to Jeff Wefferson in Australia: "ADS and CHAMP could both have sister versions with higher power levels which could do exactly the kinds of things we have seen at Maui-Lahaina."
"Directed-energy weapons have been deployed primarily as a force multiplier, able to damage physical targets with greater precision and accuracy, resulting in a competitive advantage over traditional weapons. Especially given the current heightened global threat landscape in Europe and Asia, militaries are seeking any potential advantages," he says.
ADS is a low average power microwave system designed to penetrate the skin to a depth of 1/64 of an inch — about the thickness of three sheets of paper. It has been compared to feeling the blast of heat that comes from opening a hot oven; extensive testing has shown it to have no damaging effect on human skin or organs. Used against ground forces or armed mobs, it would force them to disburse and retreat.
CHAMP uses high-peak-power microwaves lasting less than half the time it takes to blink — too brief to harm human beings but more than enough to disable or destroy electronic circuitry. A CHAMP system mounted in a UAV could fly over an enemy-held city and surgically destroy enemy command, control and communications systems — even hitting one building, skipping the next, then hitting a second — without damaging any critical civilian systems or harming anyone in the target area. Damage to enemy capabilities would be at least as great as a direct strike with a bomb, but with no structural or collateral damage.
Air Force Research Laboratory-Kirtland demonstrated a mobile tactical high-power microwave operational responder (THOR), with an aggressive agenda to reach warfighters soon. The intent of THOR is to be up and running in three hours by two people. It's designed to take down several enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) simultaneously with rotational antenna control to provide 360-degree coverage, with the firing mechanism and overall systems control, coming from a laptop computer."
