However, every single
directed-energy weapon also requires heavy rare earths and highly advanced material science capabilities.
Developed by the Defense Department's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program, the
directed-energy weapon concentrates microwaves on incoming vehicles.
The Solid-State Active Denial Technology (SS-ADT) is a
directed-energy weapon currently being developed by the U.S.
A
directed-energy weapon (DEW) is the future weapon system that emits highly focused energy for target destruction.
* Rayguns are a type of fictional
directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, phaser, zap gun etc.
One idea is to add a
directed-energy weapon as a supplement to the system's existing gun.
Today, not only US hopes to harness the photon to build a so-called
directed-energy weapon (DEW); private companies and military agencies in Russia, China, the UK and elsewhere are pursuing DEW projects.
Among its more bizarre projects are anti-traction chemicals to create road slicks, sticky foam to immobilize adversaries, sophisticated stink bombs ("malodorant grenades") to disperse rioters, and the "people zapper"--the Vehicle Mounted Active-Denial System, a Humvee-mounted
directed-energy weapon for crowd control.
But as Roy Woodruff, associate director for defense systems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told Congress last year, "Certainly the scientifically significant breakthroughs in new weapon concepts, such as the X-ray laser or any nuclear
directed-energy weapon, would be stopped in the absence of testing.'
Unlike the
directed-energy weapon devices discussed in science fiction, the laser-based weaponry will be in extensive use, by the mid-2020s, when the U.S.
Meanwhile, according to Aviation Week, peaceful Japan is planning to put a
directed-energy weapon on its next-generation fighter.
Today, not only the US hopes to harness the photon to build a so-called
directed-energy weapon (DEW); private companies and military agencies in Russia, China, the UK, and elsewhere are pursuing DEW projects.