Navy eyes prototypes in electromagnetic weapons, high-power microwave, and laser weapons to protect ships
WASHINGTON – U.S. Navy electromagnetic warfare experts needed prototypes and evaluation of high-power RF and millimeter wave effects and technologies to help protect naval warships. They found a solution from Envisioneering Inc. in Alexandria, Va.
Officials of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington announced a $99 million contract to Envisioneering last month for research support in high-power electromagnetic systems development, application, and testing.
Envisioneering experts will help design prototype high-power RF electromagnetic weapons, and help evaluate RF and millimeter wave effects and technologies to help safeguard Navy surface warships.
Envisioneering also will look into ultra-short-pulse (USP) and high-energy laser technologies to improve countermeasures in the RF, millimeter wave, infrared bands to counter future enemy missiles, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), and attacking swarms of small boats.
Related: The new era of high-power electromagnetic weapons
NRL and its support contractors previously have developed experimental countermeasure and high-power microwave technologies that require additional design, prototyping, and initial limited production. Envisioneering will provide experienced scientific, technical, management, and logistics personnel for this effort.
Directed-energy technologies like high-power RF, high-energy and high-power laser weapons and electrostatic discharge (ESD) systems are applicable technologies to neutralize anticipated future threats to surface warships, ranging from conventional threats and swarm attacks, to pirating and unmanned vehicles.
Efforts will revolve around high-power microwaves to counter electronic sensors, UAV detection and defeat, threat analysis of anti-ship cruise missiles and the evaluation of specific high-power microwave and countermeasure system performance against those threats.
On this contract Envisioneering will do the work at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, and should be finished by September 2025. For more information contact Envisioneering online at https://envisioneeringinc.com, or the Naval Research Lab at www.nrl.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
