Directed Energy Weapons Could Be Used On Fighter Aircraft

Directed Energy Weapons Could Be Used On Fighter Aircraft

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Directed energy technology could vastly increase the options that war fighters have available to them, Air Force leaders said earlier this week , arguing it’s a desperately needed update to defense capabilities.

“We have about the same weapons we had on 9/11 for our air defense,” said Lt. Gen. William Etter, commander of the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, charged with protecting the U.S. homeland.

According to Defense News , both offensively and defensively, the Air Force must currently rely on missiles or other destructive forms of attack. But directed energy systems like electromagnetic waves could open up the options the military has available, including shutting down the electronics in vehicles, knocking out power to buildings or cell-phone towers, or using directed heat and sound to disperse crowds.

“We’re not always going to kill people in our sites; sometimes all we want is for them to stop what they’re doing,” Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold said, commander of the Air Force Special Operations Command. Heithold gave the example of troops on the ground who would need to either take out a specific target or rescue a hostage. Directed energy could be used to knock out cell phones so the targets can’t call for help, or to disable a getaway car.

Directed energy can also be used to protect aircraft in flight by shutting down weapons systems targeting the plane or destroying incoming missiles. Heithold said it’s a capability that is desperately needed to address threats in combat theaters.

Experts say that directed energy could also allow planes to have a much greater payload, Etter noted, as the systems to fire hundreds of laser shots take up the same amount of space as a few missiles.

And, lasers and other directed energy systems are more resilient to firing in bad weather or at night compared to conventional weapons.

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