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Naval warfare at the speed of light
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| 17 June 2003 |
Scott C Truver
Death rays, phasers, photon torpedoes and weapons that can instantaneously vaporise adversaries, without leaving a trace, are typically the subject of science fiction films. But what seemed far-fetched not too long ago is now on the cusp of reality, as the US Navy (USN) forges ahead with programmes aimed at introducing a range of electric weapons - electromagnetic (EM) rail guns, high-energy lasers (HELs) and high-power microwaves - into the not-too-distant future fleet. If successful, these look to generate what some have called a "revolution at sea" akin to the change from sail to steam.
"These 'speed of light' weapons and 'electric-enabled' weapons offer the promise to fundamentally change the nature of war at and from the sea," Rear Adm Jay Cohen, Chief of Naval Research, said in an interview in mid-June 2003.
With the USN's commitment to installing integrated power systems (IPS) and integrated electric drive in the next class of warships, beginning with DD(X), and the happy confluence of several disparate streams of research, development and engineering, the stage has been set for the transformation in warfighting that the George W Bush administration seeks: to "leap a generation" of weapons.
Indeed, the establishment in early 2002 of the Naval Directed Energy Weapons Program Office (PMS-405) in the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to oversee the development of electric weapons, and the expansion of the programme office's portfolio in late 2002 to include EM rail guns, mark a turning point in the service's commitment to achieving a unified vision.
As Chief of Naval Operations, Adm Vern Clark outlined to the Commander, NAVSEA, Vice Adm Phillip Balisle, in November 2002: "I am directing NAVSEA to redesignate PMS-405 [as] the Navy Electric Weapons Office [since then renamed as the Naval Directed Energy and Electric Weapons Program Office], and incorporate within it an electromagnetic weapons division responsible for managing the full-scale proof-of-concept rail gun... PMS-405 will also be responsible for co-ordinating with other programme offices (especially Program Executive Office [PEO] Ships and PEO Integrated Warfare Systems) to ensure that DD(X) and follow-on IPS ships are designed to the maximum extent feasible, to accommodate forward [fit] and backfit of high-power electric weapons."
"The advent of directed-energy weapons [DEW] and electromagnetic rail guns has the potential for revolutionising warship design and operations," underscored Rear Adm Mike Mathis, a former commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, now Director, Joint Theater Air and Missile Defense Organization. "There will be no need for explosives on board, and the concept of a magazine will have to be rethought... the impact will ripple throughout the ship and the navy."
DEWs include lasers, microwave radiation emitters and particle beam accelerators. Unlike conventional weapons that rely on kinetic or chemical energy (or both) to destroy a target, DEWs damage or destroy targets by depositing energy - photons or particles travelling at or near the speed of light, about 300,000km/s - on them. Because a DEW beam can travel great distances almost instantaneously, the challenge of tracking and intercepting targets is greatly reduced, while the ability of a target to evade the weapon's effect is likewise significantly diminished.
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