Technological

advancements in HEL
technology
Alexander Kinnear

What is a HEL?
Hel stands for High Energy Lasers (think of doctor evils
project H or star wars or the death stars laser cannon)
High energy lasers are mainly used as weapons (research
from these three suggests only weapons but I think that
some other tech such as medical lasers may benefit from
this sort of research)
Lasers in general were cool and when I searched for
laser advancements, shooting projectiles with lasers was
neat and HEL technology seemed like an interesting
name.

vocab
High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator = HEL MD
Unmanned Areal Vehicle = UAV
Area Defense Anti-Munitions = ADAM

High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System = HELLADS

Laser Weapon System = LaWS
Robust Electric Laser Initiative = RELI

Valerie C. Coffeys research in HEL

technology
http://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume_25/octobe
r_2014/features/high-energy_lasers_new_advances_in_de
fense_applica/

Valerie C. Coffeys research in HEL technology continued

In this article we read about the beginnings of laser

technology,
The first laser weapon was supposedly a amplified
reflection of the sun a heat laser or heat ray invented
by the Greek inventor Archimedes. They used this
weapon to burn the sails of attacking ships, I would
guess that they tried to burn the ships with the sails but
they dont mention it.
The reason they are researching HELs is to reduce
military costs and increase defensive abilities for the
army

Valerie C. Coffeys research in HEL technology continued

A selection of ongoing high-energy
laser weapons projects
Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM)
U.S. govt. agency: None (commercial venture)
Contractor: Lockheed Martin
Description: Fiber, commerical off-the-shelf
Power: 10 kW
Status: Prototype stage
Gamma
U.S. govt. agency: None (commercial venture)
Contractor: Northrop Grumman
Description: Solid-state slab architecture
Power: 13.3 kW building blocks
Status: Initial testing completed in 2012
Excalibur
U.S. govt. agency: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Contractor Optonicus
Description: Fiber with optical phased array
Power: 10s of kW; scaling to100 kW in next 3 years Status: Demo
in 2013
High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS)
U.S. govt. agency: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Contractor: General Atomics
Description: Liquid, aircraft-mountable
Power: 150 kW (10 15-kW modules)
Status: Final development phase

High Energy Laser Mobile

Demonstrator (HEL MD)
U.S. govt. agency: Army
Contractor: Boeing
Description: Solid state; ground platform
Power: 10 kW; 50/100 kW lasers in
development
Status: Successful test
Joint High Power Solid-State Laser
U.S. govt. agency: Army/Air Force/Navy
Contractor: Northrop Grumman
Description: Solid-state slab
Power: 105 kW (7 15-kW building blocks)
Status: Successful maritime testing in 2011
Laser Weapon System (LaWS)
U.S. govt. agency: Office of Naval Research
Contractor: Kratos
Description: Solid state; IR commercial offthe-shelf Power: Classified (possibly 15 to
50 kW)
Status: Trial deployment; installation on
USS Ponce
scheduled for summer 2014

Robust Electric Laser Initiative

(RELI)
U.S. govt. agency: Department of
Defense
Contractor: Lockheed Martin,
Northrop Grumman and Boeing
Description: Fiber, truck mounted
Power: 100 kW (goal); 60 kW laser
in development
Status: Tests of 30 kW in 2013
(Boeing) and early 2014
(Lockheed)
Solid-State Laser - Technology
Maturation
U.S. govt. agency: Office of Naval
Research
Contractor: Kratos, Raytheon,
Northrop Grumman and BAE
Sytems
Description: Light tactical-vehiclemounted
Power: N/A
Status: Design stage

Valerie C. Coffeys research in HEL technology continued

They hope to improve their technology by testing and improving its power output, tracking
capability, multiple tracking (simultaneous), and weather judgment and recalculation.
By weather judgment I mean that it determents atmospheric conditions (ex: dust, humidity)
and by recalculation I mean that it changes the output, angle, intensity, and so on to
accommodate the weather conditions.
And they want to make it portable and less dangerous, possibly considering alternative
means of energy (Not toxic chemical energy)
An example is a solid state high energy laser setup that tracks then destroys hostile rockets,
artillery, mortars and drones.

November 2013, Boeing tested the HEL

MD system at the White Sands Missile
Range in New Mexico, where it
successfully disrupted the trajectory or
otherwise destroyed more than 70
incoming mortar rounds and several
UAVs.

Georgia tech research institutes

research in HEL technology
http://gtri.gatech.edu/casestudy/directed-energyweapons-laser-target-board

Georgia tech research institutes research in HEL technology

They searched for a way to accelerate the testing and deployment of HEL
weapons, to achieve this they made a system that measures its power and
spatial energy distribution, allowing for faster development and easy testing.
Specifically they researched energy values in the beam, ex: heat energy
produced
they achieved this by constructing a laser resistant or tolerant
photosensitive plastic cube, to determine / measure this information.
This information is important because we can learn / know what we need for
power outputs and are learning how to manipulate and correct it to economies
firing costs, effectiveness and only damage the target.

JASON B. CUTSHAW, SMDC research in HEL technology

For this source they talk about its future and how it got there, basically it
started out with a want to reduce costs of military actions, and having a toxic
chemical version that they did not want to use, so they decided to advance the
electrical based HEL. Eventually they made it a high output long lasting laser but
it was a yeah this could work system but needed to be improved for military
use. Did they stop there? No, they started another program that focused on
prepping technology for weaponry / military use (i.e. they made tech/ software/
programs for HEL to be used as weapons under military conditions).
I should mention that there were different types of HELs, THELs relied on toxic
chemicals so they were to dangerous to use, electric HELs which were a no go (at
first) because of technology but eventually became known and used as solid state
lasers. There was also mention of a liquid based HEL but that might have been
from another source.

JASON B. CUTSHAW, SMDC research in HEL technology

What they hope to eventually see is a hand held or other easily portable laser
system capable of sniping a target (sized all the way down to a pop bottle)
many kilometers away or a few kilometers away (depending on target location).
The possible problem they see is the beam control system/ function.

Where do I think research is going?

(Mini essay of 200+ words)

1. This research could potentially eliminate the opportunities of bombing cities, essentially eliminating a chance of a nuclear war (because you
would fear your nuke being shot down over yourself), planes could be shot down easily and the difference in costs would make attacking
another way to waste resources, time, money, and lives (if people are on shot down stuff). This practically makes war pointless, war was waged
for more land, resources, and traditional ways of expressing something like patriotism. However since money/ funds would go down,
exponentially I might add, land would not really be gained (including recourses), and we no longer see war as a way to express patriotism we
have essentially destroyed all reasons to wage war, meaning there might never be a world war III.
2. Although this technology is being designed for military use, some of the stuff we discover could be used in other areas, like eye surgery/
correction, other medical applications, maybe the knowledge we learn along the way will reveal a way to make a less damaging computer
screen, lights, Wi Fi, or some other technology that uses beams or lights.
What are my concerns? That this technology will be abused and used to bombard a cities/ towns/ houses with more destructive laser beams.
The way they are conducting the research is kind of how I would do it, research lasers for information and superior and cost effective defense,
test lasers completely to ensure safety and precision, eventually discouraging war.

Videos!!!!!
http://www.wired.com/2013
/04/laser-warfare-system
/

http://
www.military.com/video/directed-energy-weapons/laser-weapo
ns/high-energy-laser-testing/4377694227001