Directed energy: low power weapons on the rise.

• Author: Wagner, Breanne
• Position: IN FOCUS: DEFENSE AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS

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* As a result of growing demand in Iraq for handheld lasers, the Defense Department is reevaluating its long-term funding priorities for non-lethal weapons.

Low-power laser dazzlers are being used throughout Iraq by U.S. troops at checkpoints to temporarily blind and slow down drivers who are approaching at high speeds.

The dazzlers, which resemble flashlights, emit a low power pulsing green laser light which, according to the Defense Department, causes no lasting eye damage.

The widespread use of these technologies has prompted the Pentagon to shift more research, development and procurement funding to low-power weapons, said David Law, chief of the technology division at the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, based in Quantico, Va.

Development of non-lethal, low power weapons has in the past been limited in favor of more glamorous systems such as missile interceptor high-power lasers. The smaller, simpler weapons are commanding more attention not only because of their greater use in combat, but also because the technology is maturing far faster than that of more expensive and complex systems, Law told National Defense at an Institute for Defense and Government Advancement directed energy conference.

Advanced high power weapons need several more years of testing and development before they can be deployed in combat, Law said.

Examples include the Missile Defense Agency's airborne laser and the Air Force's advanced tactical laser, both of which employ complex high-energy chemical beams. These systems have been in development for many years and have been slowed down by cost increases and lack of progress in maturing the technology.

The airborne laser consists of a chemical oxygen iodine laser mounted on a modified 747-400F aircraft. It would shoot down theater ballistic missiles in their boost phase.

The advanced tactical laser was designed to shoot stationary or moving ground targets from a C-130 cargo aircraft, and also employs a chemical oxygen-iodine laser.

"I don't want to preclude development of the high powered systems ... but maybe we need to say, what do we have now and what can we do?" Law asked.

It is becoming clear that low-power weapons have more utility than the big chemical lasers, said Law. He predicts that they will continue to receive more funding and support in coming years.

Before the handheld laser dazzler gained popularity, the military already had been experimenting with a low-power "personnel...