Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM)
Lockheed Martin’s Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) system is a prototype laser weapon system that is designed to defeat close-in improvised rocket, and unmanned aerial system (UAS) and small boat threats. Lockheed Martin based the system on commercial hardware paired with the corporation’s beam control architecture and software to provide the performance needed for these types of threats.
Providing short-range defense of high-value areas including forward operating bases, the ADAM system is designed to track targets at a range of more than 5 kilometers and to destroy targets at a range of up to 2 kilometers. This ground-based, transportable system is self-contained to conduct the full engagement sequence against rockets and accepts an initial external radar cue to engage UASs. For rocket threats, the ADAM system detects the threat and within seconds locks on the target and establishes an aim point. When the ADAM system declares a valid aim point, it fires the laser on the target long enough to negate the rocket, or UAS, or small boat.
Lockheed Martin developed the ADAM system under independent research and development funding and Lockheed Martin has successfully demonstrated the prototype in a series of tests against representative airborne and maritime targets.
On 08 May 2013 Lockheed Martin announced that it had successfully demonstrated the Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) system in multiple tests against free-flying Qassam-like rocket targets. The prototype laser system has destroyed eight small-caliber rocket targets in flight at a range of approximately 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) in tests conducted in March and April 2013.
The tests represent increasingly complex scenarios against representative airborne targets. In 2012, the system successfully destroyed 11 small-caliber rocket targets in simulated flight tethered to a cable at a range of approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). The system also successfully engaged an unmanned aerial system target in flight at a range of approximately 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) in 2012. “Our test results demonstrate the capabilities of the ADAM system to provide a practical, affordable directed-energy solution to the real-world problem of close-in threats,” said Tory Bruno, president of Strategic and Missile Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.
Designed for short-range defense of high-value assets including forward operating bases, the ADAM system’s 10-kilowatt fiber laser is engineered to destroy targets up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away. The system precisely tracks targets in cluttered optical environments and has a tracking range of more than 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). The system is being designed to be flexible enough to operate against rockets as a standalone system and to engage unmanned aerial systems with an external cue. Lockheed Martin based the design on commercial hardware components paired with its laser beam control architecture and software to provide the performance needed for these types of threats without the cost and time required for full custom development. The system is integrated in a container that is mounted on a trailer, making it readily transportable.
“High-energy lasers complement kinetic energy systems and have unique attributes, including very low cost per engagement, a virtually unlimited ‘magazine’ and minimal collateral damage,” said Doug Graham, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of advanced programs for Strategic and Missile Defense Systems.
In May 2014 tests off the California coast, a Lockheed Martin prototype laser system successfully disabled two boats at a range of approximately 1.6 kilometers (approximately 1 mile). These were the first tests of the Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) system against maritime targets.
Lockheed Martin developed the transportable, ground-based ADAM laser system to demonstrate a practical, affordable defense against short-range threats, including Qassam-like rockets, unmanned aerial systems and small boats.
In less than 30 seconds, the ground-based system’s high-energy laser burned through multiple compartments of the rubber hull of the military-grade small boats operating in the ocean. Lockheed Martin previously demonstrated the system’s capabilities in countering representative airborne targets in flight, including small-caliber rocket targets and an unmanned aerial system target. The system can precisely track moving targets at a range of more than 5 kilometers (3.1 miles), and its 10-kilowatt fiber laser can engage targets up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.
“Our laser weapon initiatives leverage commercial products and processes, focusing on affordability for the user,” said Dr. Ray O. Johnson, Lockheed Martin senior vice president and chief technology officer. “Lockheed Martin continues to invest in advancing fiber laser and beam control technologies, as these successful ADAM tests demonstrate.”
The ADAM design pairs commercial hardware components with Lockheed Martin’s laser beam control architecture and software to affordably provide the performance needed for close-in threats, along with a virtually unlimited “magazine” at a low cost per engagement. “Our ADAM system tests have shown that high-energy lasers are ready to begin addressing critical defense needs,” said Tory Bruno, president of Strategic and Missile Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. “Putting revolutionary technologies to work in practical applications is a hallmark of innovation at Lockheed Martin.”
Lockheed Martin has pioneered the development and demonstration of high-energy laser capabilities for more than 30 years and has made advances in areas such as precision pointing and control, line-of-sight stabilization and adaptive optics and high-power fiber lasers.
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