DIRECTED ENERGY
Abstract
The goal of this activity is to develop Directed Energy (DE) technology for Navy applications. The DE program address the requirements of future Navy combatants to provide ship defense against the high speed, high maneuvarability Cruise Missiles that are proliferating throughout the Navies of the world. The Directed Energy portion of this activity consists of two elements. The first element involves applied research and development of technologies supporting advanced accelerators with applications to directed energy weapons. This activity also includes the Free Electron Laser (FEL) Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) which if successful could be utilized for shipboard applications as a defensive weapon against advanced cruise missiles and asymmetric threats. FY10 to FY12 increase in funding is primarily due to the start of the second contractural phase of the FEL INP program. As a result of the Phase 1A competition, a single contractor was awarded the contract in late FY10 and in FY11 the selected contractor will begin the critical design, development and installation portion of the FEL INP 100kW test and demonstration program. In addition long lead item procurement for the 100 kW FEL will begin in FY11/12. These long lead items require approximately 15 to 18 months for manufacturing and delivery to the test facility. The other element influencing the funding increase is the additional S&T investment required to develop compact, high performance FEL components such as the high power injector (super conducting and normal conducting radio frequency), the mirror/optical components and oscillator system, and the high power amplifiers. Additional development of these components is extremely critical for operation at required INP power levels and also to minimize the FEL footprint in anticipation of eventual ship integration.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2012
- Source ID
- 27360c814728d463fa0aff67b86e751c