HUNTSVILLE — The Army
will soon try to zap and destroy
a small rocket in Star Wars
fashion with what could become the world's first combat
laser system.
Success of the Tactical High
Energy Laser prototype could
revolutionize the way battles
are fought, says the man who
heads up the program for the
Army.
In the test, a laser will try to
destroy a Katyusha rocket as it
streaks at hundreds of miles an
hour over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. That will take place in the next six to
eight weeks, said Gerald Wilson, manager of the program at
the Army's Space and Missile
Defense Command in Huntsville.
"The single rocket shootdown is the most critical because it will once and for all
show that we've been able to
design and develop ... a bona
fide high-powered laser system," Wilson said.
The laser is a joint project
between the United States and
Israel, which wants to use the
system to defend its northern
borders against the 122mm Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas based in southern
Lebanon.
About a dozen people work
- most of them part time - on
the project in Huntsville. That
includes some local contractors
that provide engineering support for the Army.
THEL is a chemical laser system that includes command,
control, communications and
intelligence systems, radar and
a laser pointer/tracker. It produces laser beams by mixing
chemicals to produce intense
heat and light. The system funnels off the heat and captures
the light to beam it toward a
target.
The beam must stay on the
target for a short time - exactly how long is classified information - to destroy it, Wilson said.
"What we do is put somewhere close to 10,000 times the
surface temperature of the sun
on these particular rockets or
targets, and not too many substances known by mankind can
withstand that," he said.
The laser system consists of a
half dozen cargo-like trailers of
various sizes that can be transported by ship, airplane, or
tractor trailer rigs. The laser-beam director, which resembles a squatty telescope atop an
8-foot cube, can swivel to track
its targets.
THEL is designed to shoot for
up to 60 shots without reloading, according to a publication
from prime contractor TRW
Inc., which built the prototype
in California.
Because of its ability to fire
multiple shots, the Army hopes
to get the cost per shot at a relatively inexpensive $3,000 or
under, Wilson said. That compares to tens of thousands of
dollars to fire just one missile,
he said.
For close-in fighting
THEL is being developed primarily for close-in fighting
where there is little or no warning that a small rocket or artillery shell has been fired at
troops. It allows speed-of-light
- 186,000 miles per second -
interception of an enemy
rocket or artillery mortar. And
the beam can be moved around
until it hits its target.
Wilson said the system offers
a chance to protect troops in
situations where for years their
only defense "was basically
jumping in the fox hole and
start praying."
If the test is successful, it will
be followed by other tests
against multiple rockets fired
from various angles and ranges,
Wilson said. If those tests are
successful, the system will be
shipped to Israel in September
for further testing, he said.
Neither the United States nor
Israel has committed to buying
THEL systems.
The Pentagon has not requested any funding for THEL
in its 2001 budget, according to
a story last week in Jane's Defense Weekly. But that story
quoted unnamed sources as
saying they hope to persuade
Congress to allocate funding for
the joint U.S.-Israel program
should the tests succeed.
The Air Force already is developing a laser mounted on an
airplane that can shoot down
missiles. And the Ballistic Missile Defense Command is working on a space-based laser that
can shoot down enemy missiles
soon after they are launched.
Huntsville is on a short list to
land a facility that would integrate and test the more than $2
billion-space based program.
THEL won't end the need for
defensive missiles because lasers have their limitations, Wilson said. Although he would
not discuss what those limitations are, he said poor weather
is one thing that hampers lasers.
The military has been working on laser technology for
more than 20 years with a large
high-energy laser it built in
New Mexico. The Army used
that laser to shoot down a
short-range rocket in February
1996.
Based on the success of that
joint project between the
United States and Israel, the
two nations signed the agreement in 1996 to develop the
mobile THEL prototype.
$89 million contract
TRW was awarded an $89
million contract - two thirds
from the United States and the
rest from Israel - to build a
system using subcontractors
from both countries. TRW later
was given a $42 million contract to add field testing to the
prototype system.
Since then, the program has
a had a series of delays and cost
overruns.
The program is about a year
behind schedule and has cost
$250 million so far, Wilson said.
Last year the United States and
Israel renegotiated TRW's contract so the company pays for
half the cost overruns, with the
two governments splitting the
other half. Once there is a successful test, TRW will begin
paying 25 percent of cost overruns, with the two nations cov
ering the rest.
TRW officials declined an interview for this story.
John Pike, policy analyst for
the Federation of American Scientists, said he believes there
may be no real use for such a
laser system.
Since Israel and the United
States began discussing the
project some six years ago, a
peace has been reached in the
region and there is not much
need for the program, he said.
"At this point, I think it is a solution in search of a problem,"
he said.
But Jane's Defense Weekly
said Israeli officials are eager to
complete the THEL program
and deploy the system in the
next few months. Israel's prime
minister has pledged to remove
troops from southern Lebanon
by July, and Israeli military
commanders expect an increase in attacks on their positions.
© 2000 The Birmingham News
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