The U.S. Air Force plans to conduct an experiment in fiscal year 2018 using directed energy weapons to counter small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
The experiment will seek to determine whether high-energy lasers and high-power microwaves could help in such ways as protecting military bases in combat zones, the Air Force announced late Sept. 26. Directed-energy proponents say such weapons could provide more precision and less collateral damage than traditional weapons.
The Air Force Research Laboratory recently released a request for information (RFI) on systems that other government agencies and industry could potentially provide for the experiment. Responses are due Oct. 15.
For the experiment, the Air Force is particularly interested in tracking and destroying UAS that weigh up to 55 pounds and in “eliminating” them at a rate of five to 10 per minute.
“Proposed systems must be robust and have integrated sensors used to find, fix, track and target single and/or multiple UAS targets,” the RFI says.
Such experimentation is called for in the directed energy weapons flight plan that Air Force leaders approved in May.
“We identified directed energy as a game-changing technology area in our Air Force strategy and pressed forward with developing a flight plan to define what we needed to do to get from the laboratory to operational capability,” Air Force Chief Scientist Greg Zacharias said. “Experimentation and prototyping are critical tools to help make this happen.”
The Air Force and other military services and agencies have been developing and fielding a wide range of systems to defend against the growing threat from small, hostile, commercially available UAS.
In May, the Air Force Research Laboratory unveiled two new systems (Defense Daily, May 18). One is designed to precisely disrupt radiofrequency communications between a drone and its operator and push the drone away from protected areas. The other attaches a net to a friendly drone to capture an adversary drone.