What is directed energy?
Directed-energy is a term used by the military for technologies that produce a concentrated beam of electromagnetic energy or atomic or subatomic particles. They are already in use as laser range finders, laser remote sensors, laser communication systems, target designators and directed-energy weapons.
What are directed-energy weapons (DEWs)?
DEWs are defined by the U.S. DoD as “a system using directed-energy, primarily as a direct means to damage or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and personnel” They use electro-magnetic energy i.e. laser, microwave or particle beams, as opposed to the kinetic energy of conventional weapons. With the aid of complex sensors DEWs can track, aim and fire at the speed of light and can engage with multiple targets. This allows for very precise targeting and instant effect at long range. By adjusting the power and frequency of the beam the operator can choose to dazzle, track, damage or destroy.
UK development of laser directed energy weapons.
The UK has been developing laser weapons since the 1960s and was the first country to deploy them in combat, during the Falklands War (1982). A letter from then Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine, dated 17 January 1983, recently disclosed in declassified documents states, “You may recall, however, that we developed and deployed with great urgency a naval laser weapon, designed to dazzle low flying Argentine pilots attacking ships, to the Task Force in the South Atlantic. This weapon was not used in action and knowledge of it has been kept to a very restricted circle.” This weapon was likely to have been the Laser Dazzle Sight, designed for use against aircraft sensors and pilots, reportedly developed by the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment and the Admiralty Research Establishment in 1981.
They were also deployed on various ships in the nineties, sent to the Gulf of Arabia and Persian Gulf.
The UK has continued to explore ship-based laser systems with a number of small-scale demonstrations.
Dragonfire Consortium
In September 2016, the first major £30 million contract for the development of a high-energy laser weapon was awarded to the Dragonfire Consortium headed by the European missile developer and manufacturer, MBDA. The consortium includes BAE Systems, Leonardo, Marshall Defence and Aerospace, Qinetiq, GKN and Arke.
The beam director and electro-optics are being provided by Leonardo and the 50Wt laser emitter by Qinetiq. Assembly and tests of Dragonfire began in 2018 at QinetiQ’s purpose built ‘Dragonworks’ facility in Farnborough – especially equipped for reflective hazard assessment. Long range outdoor trials will take place at MoD Shoeburyness in 2019. LDEWs are expected to be operational on British warships by the early 2020s.
Britain’s new Dragonfire Laser Weapon
Platforms
The Dragonfire laser system will initially be installed on naval ships but it can also be adapted for future deployment on land-based vehicles and aircraft.
Although cheap to use per round, the systems themselves will be expensive (several £million for ship and land-based systems and more for aircraft). They also require very powerful energy sources and substantial cooling systems to prevent overheating between shots. Another limitation is their vulnerability to atmospheric conditions such as moisture and dust which reduce the beam’s power, especially over long distances.
A radical new development in military technology?
Laser directed energy weapons are being developed by countries such as the US, Russia, China, Israel, Germany as well as the UK. They are part of a technologically driven arms race subject to no public debate. MBDA are currently working on both hypersonic missiles and directed-energy weapons as part of the UK’s new super-fighter project ‘Team Tempest’.
Some view directed-energy weapons as a transformation in the way war is waged due to their speed and accuracy. and possibly the best defence against hypersonic missiles.
Export
The Dragonfire System was showcased at the DSEI Arms Fair in London in 2017. It has from the outset been developed with export sales in mind as well as UK procurement. In 2016, Dave Armstrong, UK managing director of MBDA, stated “Under MBDA lead, UK Dragonfire will put the UK at the forefront of high energy laser systems, capitalising on the experience of joint MoD/Industry working in the complex weapons environment. Furthermore it advances the UK towards a future product with significant export potential, as well as providing opportunities for partnerships with other nation’s armed forces that have similar requirements.” According to a recent Visiongain report the global market for Directed Energy Weapons is worth $5.8 billion in 2019
Uses and Legality
Blinding laser weapons, designed specifically to blind enemy personnel, were banned in 1995 under the core International Humanitarian Law prohibition of weapons that case superfluous injury. This was the result of considerable pressure from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch.
Although intended to target objects, there is no guarantee that their use will not result in superfluous human injury. For example, under battlefield conditions it would be impossible to avoid the cockpit or pilot’s eyes when targeting small boats.
In 1995 John Marshall, head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Hospitals at the University of London, wrote an article published in the New York Times which stated:
“….the very properties that make lasers so useful in eye surgery are exploitable as offensive anti-personnel weapons. Because it concentrates light falling on its surface, the human eye is extremely vulnerable to damage from high intensity lights…A laser that could dazzle toward the end of its range would inevitably cause permanent blindness nearer the source. Aiming for temporary blindness under battlefield conditions appears impossible.”
Lasers applied to other parts of the human body, would cause serious burns. Despite this, there is growing pressure in the US to amend the convention on laser weapons so they can be used against personnel. In an article, “The Dawn of Anti-personnel Directed-Energy Weapons” US Air Force officer, Robert Hunter Ward argues:
“ If the Law of Armed Conflict is adjusted to permit directed-energy weapons use against personnel, which could minimize suffering to the most extent possible, using aerial lasers with the power to target personnel on the ground can redefine the way the U.S. Air Force utilizes airpower within the close air support, counterinsurgency, and counterterror attack missions.” For this to happen, the lasers would need to be powerful enough to cause instant incineration and would be a form of targeted assassination, as seen in drone warfare.
Like drone warfare, directed energy weapons could have profound psychological as well as physical impact, with the potential to disrupt civilian life. A laser strike will literally come ‘out of the blue’, could be lethal if not tuned properly, and will offer plausible deniability.
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