Boeing designs ship-based laser weapon system

Physics Today : In April 2009, Boeing Co was awarded an Office of Naval Research contract valued at up to $163 million—with an initial task order of $6.9 million—to begin developing a free-electron laser (FEL) weapon system.The company finally presented its design of a 100-kW FEL last week to the US Navy at a Boeing facility in Arlington, Virginia. The FEL operates by passing a beam of high-energy electrons through a series of powerful magnetic fields, generating an intense emission of laser light that can disable or destroy targets.FEL’s are attractive for the navy for three reasons, they can operate for long periods of time (unlike the chemical laser used in Boeing’s overbudget and frequently delayed prototype airborne missile defense plane , which has to reload after 5 shots), they can “tune” the laser to the right wavelength to avoid being absorbed by water vapor in the atmosphere, and all the “ammunition” they need is electricity, which is easy to find on an modern warship."The FEL will protect US naval forces against emerging threats, such as hyper-velocity cruise missiles,” said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems."The successful completion of this preliminary design review is an important milestone in developing a weapon system that will transform naval warfare,” he adds.The Navy is expected to decide this summer whether to award additional task orders to Boeing to complete the FEL design and build and operate a laboratory demonstrator.Paul Guinnessy