MILNET Brief

MILNET Brief
THEL, Updated, 3/10/2007

The following list compiles references on MILNET as well as a few external links to the Tactical High Energy Laser development program.

THEL began as a concept program under the DoD ACTD (Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator) program which allows the Pentagon to define technologies needed and Contractors to apply off-the-shelf solutions to jump-start rapid-pace technology programs. Military ruggedization and mission hardening then takes place at a later stage in the development cycle.

THEL was a prime example of the ACTD program. It began with contractors taking off the shelf components to demonstrate various pieces of the system -- aiming, tracking, and sensing of atmospheric conditions, while new technology advances in high energy lasers waned. Within a decade however, the high energy lasers began to emerge that could power such a device, well within the timeframe needed to provide for a demonstratable weapon system.

Today, THEL appears to be the basis both in research as well as in fieldable systems for a number of different follow on concepts -- thus its importance to the high energy laser programs of the future.

Item

When

Where

MILNET Brief: New Weapons

March 2007

MILNET

MILNET Brief: Beam Weapons

03/02/2007

MILNET

Document	When	Where
Laser Weapons Are Getting Closer To Reality,	03/02/2007	Sander Research
Lasers Go To War	01/25/07	David Lichner, NEWS11AZ
Joint High Power Solid-State Laser (THEL Follow-On)	2006	Grumman Aerospace

MILNET Brief: Weapons for 2025

2/10/2005

MILNET

Document	When	Where
Electronic Warfare/Directed Energy Weapons	undated	FAS
AF Vision 2025 White Papers, Directed Energy Weapons	undated	Naval Postgraduate School
Directed Energy Weapons: A Bibliography	undated	Naval Postgraduate School
Boost Phase, Directed Energy Program	undated	U.S. BMDO/MDA
The Next Generation of Weapons	8/04/2006	James J. Carafano, Andrew Berman, Fox News
E-Weapons: Directed Energy Warfare in the 21st Century	1/11/2006	Leonard Davis, Space.com
DOD Laser Master Plan (MILNET Mirror) (PDF 347KB)	3/24/2000	DoD
Laser Weapons in Space: A Critical Assessment .	April 1998	Lt. Col. William H. Possel, USAF Air War College Paper