Defense contractor BAE Systems isn't ready to talk about this just yet. But one of its forthcoming projects is a microwave weapon that can fry the electronics of watercraft engines and other seaborne dangers.
Microwave weapons are nothing new. Our frequent topic the "Pain Ray" -- aka the Active Denial System -- uses microwaves for crowd control, by making people feel like they're on fire. And the Air Force wants a missile that releases powerful microwaves to fry circuitry. But whatever BAE's working on, it wouldn't be intended for use on people or come strapped to a missile, but rather it'd be part of a gun that can kill a boat dead in the water.
Or so BAE confirms about its High-Powered Microwave. "BAE Systems is developing the High-Powered Microwave (HPM) to provide a means to shut down small boat engines at tactically significant ranges," emails spokeswoman Stephanie Bissell Serkhoshian. If it works, its technology could also target "a variety of platforms including ships, unmanned aerial vehicles and missile payloads."
Aviation Week's David Fulgham got a glimpse of the company's plans to aid in shipboard defense with microwaves. Company manager of business development for advanced systems John Perry explained to Fulgham that the value of the HPM would be its fan of radiation, displacing the need for accuracy, and knocking out up to 30 small boats at a time -- allowing other weapons to take it from there. "If you can knock out 50-75% of the engines in a swarm, you can then concentrate on the remainder with lasers or kinetic [cannons]," Perry said.
Props to Fulgham: he apparently got Perry to go further than BAE is prepared to discuss. The company is tight-lipped about the High-Powered Microwave project, not specifying when it got started, let alone when it'll be ready to shop around. Serkhoshian says BAE doesn't even have a mock-up or an artists' rendition to show.
It's worth noting that BAE isn't a new kid on the block when it comes to playing with microwaves. In December, it got $150,000 from the Air Force to bombard computers with microwaves, part of an effort to figure out how to protect U.S. networks from electromagnetic attack.
Photo: Ebid.nashville.gov
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