Posted on 05/16/2005 8:22:47 PM PDT by Reaganesque
Tracking the MTHEL Laser
By Sam Jaffe
May 9, 2005
After more than ten years and several billion dollars of development, one of the most promising experimental weapons in the history of the Pentagon seemed to have fired its last shot. "The Army has no funding for MTHEL," says Lt.Col. Jeff Souder, the project manager of directed energy applications program at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) was a program to develop a defensive laser weapon powered by the combustion of highly volatile chemicals that shoots down artillery projectiles.
They system works by using a radar to track the incoming object, which signaled a controller to fire the weapon when the incoming shell was at its apogee, thus rendering it harmless to the troops below. Despite some 50 successful tests, the Army started to lose interest in the MTHEL after Sept. 11, switching its tact instead towards next-generation lasers that promise more mobility (and lower cost) than the bulky chemical laser of MTHEL.
Strangely, though, the death of MTHEL might be the best thing that ever happened to the program. Northrop Grumman, MTHEL's lead contractor, and the Pentagon are in discussions that may see the laser prototype -- which currently sits unused at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico -- deployed in Iraq's Green Zone later this summer.
That would be an amazing turnaround for a device whose development timeline moved at considerably less than the speed of light. Originally called the Nautilus, it was conceived in 1994 as a chemical laser test bed to determine if shooting down artillery rockets was feasible. It certainly did that well -- the prototype laser has shot down at least 47 targets, some in salvos, including rockets, mortars, shells and even a helicopter.
President Clinton pushed up the development cycle in 1997, transforming the Nautilus program into a fast-tracked technology when he promised a string of the devices (since re-named THEL, and later MTHEL) to Israel to protect its Northern border from the rain of Katyusha rockets fired from the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah. He also invited Israel's Ministry of Defense to be partner in development of the program.
Israeli interest in the weapon dimmed after 2000, when its Northern front turned peaceful after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
"The brass had a negative view of the MTHEL program from the beginning," says Yiftah Shapir, an associate at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies of Tel Aviv University. "They didn't want to spend $3000 on chemicals for every shot at a mortar shell which isn't capable of doing that much damage even if it landed right on a house."
Thus the Pentagon shifted the focus of its tactical laser requirements towards the long-term development of solid state lasers, which can be powered by electricity generated by diesel generators, which would take the place of the two or three support trucks filled with toxic chemicals like deuterium and nitrogen tri-flouride to power the MTHEL's beam.
The problem with solid state lasers is that nobody has yet figured out how to make them powerful enough to shoot down artillery projectiles. In order to ignite a target, a laser must produce at least 100 kilowatts of power. So far, only one fourth that power has been reached in the laboratory.
"We've been hearing for years that 100 killowatts is only a year away," says Art Stephenson, the vice president of Northrop's Directed Energy Systems division. "But scaling up that far is a much harder engineering problem than anybody recognized."
However, there may not be time to withhold the current MTHEL laser out of combat. Mortar and rocket attacks are the fourth-leading cause of casualties amongst U.S. forces, behind Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's), suicide bombs and firefights.
To that end, Northrop officials have crafted a plan to pack up the laser and get it to where it's needed most -- Iraq.
"We can have it up and running in a few months -- we've mapped out the logistics and the manpower and it's doable," says Stephenson.
The most logical place for the deployment in Iraq would be the Green Zone headquarters of the U.S. military and the new Iraqi government, which gets peppered with mortar fire emanating from nearby civilian neighborhoods. The Department of Defense refuses to comment on potential weapons deployment, but Stephenson says that a decision on the plan is imminent.
Besides its bid to use the single prototype for force protection, another proposal from Northrop is a $25 million "redeployable" THEL that is one fourth the size of the prototype and can be moved from site to site with a crane and an eighteen-wheeler. Stephenson claims a prototype could be available before the end of 2006 and that Northrop already has the manufacturing capability to produce one every two months from that point on.
"This isn't a dream of the future," says Northrop's Stephenson. "This is a system which can be rushed into the field and start saving lives immediately." He expects to hear from the Pentagon on a decision to fund the weapon within two months.
The Israelis have a point about the $3,000 of chemicals per shot to shoot down a single mortar round but, it's available, we know it works and our soldiers sure could use the protection, relatively expensive though it is. Hopefully, progress on the solid state laser weapon system will fulfill it's promise as soon as they claim it will and that problem will be solved, but for now, use what we've got!!
But, when're we gettin' our lightsabres??
Sending the White Sands prototype to the Green Zone is so clever that I'm actually *impressed* that the move got approved (considering that the project itself has been killed).
Lets trust that MTHEL proves its worth in defending fixed sites from indirect fire.
Cost of MTHEL system: Millions of dollars
Look on the face of the insurgent firing mortars into the Green Zone when his mortar goes "Poof" in mid-air: Priceless
Thanks for the ping. Yea. Read this earlier on. Rather interesting.
absolutely... might even get it back in the pipeline if it does good
I'm all for it if it truley is effective as claimed. How ever.
I wonder if anyone has considered the fact that with such a system operative in the green zone. No low flying choppers could cover our guys SASO in the city of Baghdad, if they quickly where in need of air power. Unless of course they turn of the radar system or disable the laser from being able to automatically track and fire. So after a couple days, of lobing mortars and rockets into the green zone, the goons then would go after our patrols in various parts of the city, now soon as the radar/laser system is turned off to allow help from the air, whamooo, the goons could lob in lots of rockets and mortars at specified sites within the green zone, just as they have done all along. Always seems to be a catch twenty two. Nighty night all. Eyes are bleary.
A fascinating article. The moral dilemma comes down to "what is the monetary value of our soldiers?" Many people are concerned with growing deficits. I don't see this as a realistic military solution in the age of fiscal conservatism.
BTTT!
Obi Wan: Soon, LUKE, Soon...the force isn't ready, yet.. :D
Friendly air assets have IFF transponders, don't have the profile of a projectile in flight. That shouldn't be a problem.
That's some creative program management. Get your dead prototype in the field, collect some good press and combat exposure, then head back to Redstone to pitch it again, hopefully with a couple of general officers in your pocket.
Notice this story hits the week a certain laser-intense film hits the screens. Yes, this has been well-managed. Whether it's lipstick on the pig or the Next Big Thing remains to be seen.
reminds me of Bosnia. The baddies found out that an upwards pointing microwave with the glass smashed out looks a lot like a radar and would attract some expensive US ordinance.
I'd expect a bottle rocket rash to start up wherever this thing is reported to be deployed.
whats $3000/shot? I think I read that the javelin shoulder fired missile is $100,000/ shot and those are used frequently, arent they?
can anyone confirm the $100,000 javelin price tag?
Another interesting question: If MTHEL has sufficient range, a clear field of view and a high priority human target heaves into view, do we take the shot? Hmmmm. I think I would vote yes on that.
A flux capacitor would do it, but that require 1.21 gigawatts of power to operate.
What are the measurements of power, as in kilowatts, megawatts, gigawatts.
Here's a link.
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