sUAS-Based Payload Development and Testing for Quantifying Optical Turbulence

Understanding how atmospheric effects can impact operational conditions is important to the development of High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon systems.

Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California

Within the highly dynamic and hostile modern-day battlespace, the Department of Defense (DoD) is constantly facing threats from multiple domains. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), swarms of fast attack craft, anti-ship missiles and manned aircraft are quickly developing asymmetric options. These threats need to be tracked, engaged and destroyed in quick succession. However, not all threats can necessarily be paired with the same weapons system.

The use of directed electro-optical energy has a long history in warfare dating back to the days of the Romans. According to legend, Archimedes used an array of mirrors to direct beams of sunlight on enemy ships to burn them down before they could invade Syracuse. In more recent times, the Navy began experimenting with the use of chemical lasers in the 1970s. Unfortunately, these early attempts were only experimental and never were put into operational use. Their size was too vast to be employed on ships, vehicles or aircraft.