(Inder Sing Bisht’s post from THE DEFENSE POST on02 April 2024.)
US
Navy to Test Onboard Microwave Weapon in 2026: The US Navy plans to mount a
high-powered microwave-based counter-air defense system prototype on one of its
vessels in 2026.
The
METEOR will be the navy’s first high-powered microwave (HPM) project to counter
targets such as drones and anti-ship missiles, USNI News wrote, citing the
Navy’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget documents. The US Army and the US Air Force have
already been working on their own HPM projects, in addition to other directed
energy projects such as lasers.
Advantages Over Lasers: Unlike laser weapons, which melt, burn, or vaporize a target with a high-powered beam, a microwave system can produce a range of effects from disrupting or destroying a target’s electronics to greater destruction. Its wider beam also reportedly holds an edge over the laser to counter multiple targets, such as drone swarms, faster.
“The
METEOR HPM weapon development will provide capability with low cost-per-shot,
deep magazine, tactically significant range, short time engagement for
multi-target approach, dual deception and defeat capability,” according to the
Navy’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget documents.
“The
objective of METEOR is to demonstrate tactically significant, non-kinetic, High
Power Microwave payload integration onto Naval platforms to defeat, track,
engage and assess operational threats while assessing integrated sensors and
weapon control options.”
Potential
deployment is being considered for a range of theaters including the
Indo-Pacific to counter China’s anti-missile capability, the Red Sea, and the
Indian Ocean where the Houthis have launched multiple drone and anti-ship
cruise missile strikes at merchant ships.
“Currently,
the Joint Force suffers from a lack of redundant, resilient hard kill/soft kill
options against stressing stream raid threats of Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles,”
USNI News quoted the financial year 2025 budget documents as stating. “The
issue is particularly acute in the [US Indo-Pacific Command area of
responsibility] due to the vast geographic distances involved, ship magazine
size and adversary actions.”
Navy to Fire Anti-Drone Microwave Weapon at Sea
(OlawaleAbaire’s post from THE WARRIOR MAVEN on 02 April 2024.)
In
2026, the U.S. Navy is set to trial an anti-drone microwave weapon at sea, per
the fiscal year 2025 budget documents. This initiative, known as Project
METEOR, aims to develop a high-powered microwave (H.P.M.) prototype system that
will be installed on naval vessels.
The
METEOR system is designed to offer a low cost-per-shot, deep magazine,
tactically significant range, and short time engagement for a multi-target
approach, along with dual deception and defeat capability. This will be the
Navy's inaugural high-powered microwave system, a directed energy weapon that
the Army, Navy, and Air Force are investigating to counter inexpensive unmanned
aerial systems.
Unlike
the Navy's existing directed energy systems, the METEOR prototype will employ a
unique kill mechanism to neutralize targets. Rather than using a concentrated
beam of light, HPM systems utilize microwave energy to damage the electronics
within targets.
The
Navy anticipates that this unique mechanism, exclusive to HPM systems, will
effectively neutralize anti-ship ballistic missiles, similar to those deployed
by China's People's Liberation Army Rocket Force. The Joint Force currently
lacks redundant, resilient hard kill/soft kill options against Anti-Ship
Ballistic Missiles (ASBM). This problem is particularly pronounced in the U.S.
Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility due to the vast geographic
distances, ship magazine size, and adversary actions.
The
Navy is also funding a separate HPM project, also named METEOR, which is
focused on expediting technology development to address this ASBM issue in the
Pacific. This project is being financed as part of the Navy's Rapid Defense
Experimentation Reserve (RDER) initiative, started by Heidi Shyu, the
undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, in 2021. The aim of
RDER is to identify projects or programs that address capability gaps
identified by the services or combatant commands and then fast-track their
acquisition.
HPM
systems are also expected to be useful in other regions, such as the Red Sea
and the Indian Ocean, where Houthis have launched hundreds of unmanned aerial
systems and anti-ship cruise missiles at ships, disrupting global trade.
In
the coming year, the Navy will conduct a series of functionality tests on
various subsystems matured under past programs before integrating them into the
High Power Microwave Test Bed. During this period, the Navy will also begin
implementing design changes to the prototype hardware to prepare it for ship
integration. This will include electromagnetic interference measurements, which
are conducted to identify a suitable topside location where the system won't
negatively interfere with the ship's sensors or other systems.
The
METEOR system will provide capability with low cost-per-shot, deep magazine,
tactically significant range, short time engagement for multi-target approach,
dual deception and defeat capability¹. This system will be the Navy’s first
high-powered microwave, a type of directed energy weapon system that the Army,
Navy, and Air Force are exploring to counter cheap unmanned aerial systems.
 |
| METEOR high-power microwave weapon video on YouTube. |
