Lockheed Martin Unveils ADAM, Another Directed Energy Weapon For the US
Baku, December 21 (AZERTAC). The Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) system is Lockheed Martin’s newest laser weapon that tracks targeted improvised rocket or unmanned aerial craft using a beam control and software to destroy identified enemy fire at a range just short of a mile.
ADAM is ground-based, transportable and self-contained. It can use external radar to detect drones and engage enemy missiles within seconds of a locked-in object. Once ADAM declares “a valid aim point, it fires the laser on the target long enough to negate the rocket” or drone.
Last month, Lockheed Martin recounted that testing for ADAM was successful. Doug Graham, vice president of advanced programs for Strategic and Missile Defence Systems at Lockheed Martin, stated: “Lockheed Martin has invested in the development of the ADAM system because of the enormous potential effectiveness of high-energy lasers. We are committed to supporting the transition of directed energy’s revolutionary capability to the war fighter.”
Paul Shattuck, director of directed energy systems for Strategic and Missile Defence Systems at Lockheed Martin explained: “Lockheed Martin has applied its expertise as a laser weapon system integrator to provide a practical and affordable defence against serious threats to military forces and installations. In developing the ADAM system, we combined our proven laser beam control architecture with commercial hardware to create a capable, integrated laser weapon system.”
It's not that using high-powered lasers to drop incoming missiles is anything new, and was achieved by Boeing with a nine-year Air Force project that was cancelled in 2011. That monster laser was packed into a 747 and designed to head off ballistic missiles fired at the U.S. from very far away. Raytheon then tested their laser defence on a drone for the Navy in 2010, but now Lockheed's distilled the process down for battlefield troops.
Shattuck has perfected the development of military uses to high energy lasers and has been integral in the creation of “strategic and tactical applications including missile defence and aircraft self-defence.” He is responsible for the advancement of “programs involving adaptive and electro-optical beam control/fire control systems, illuminator lasers and fiber lasers, and integration of complex weapons systems on a variety of platforms.”
In April of 2013, the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) will host the Directed Energy Systems Symposium. For the past 8 years, the DEPS have met to discuss “ideas and to focus on near term demonstrations of DE technology.”
Not all of the talks at the Symposium will be open to the public. Restrictions to access to the DEPS will be limited “to U.S. citizens with security clearances, who are employees of the U.S. Government or its contractors.”
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