Military Warfare Changes with Defeat of Electronic Targets

  • Published
  • By By Master Sgt. Greg Steele
  • 307th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
Barksdale AFB, La. --  A 307th Bomb Wing aircraft and 307 BW and 2 Bomb Wing maintainers from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., deployed to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., to participate in a Joint Concept Technology Demonstration.

The JCTD integrated the Air Force Research Laboratory, Directed Energy Directorate's, compact High Power Microwave technology with Boeing's proven air vehicle design to develop the Counter-electronics High-power microwave Advanced Missile Program.

"The missile is a high-powered microwave that emits bursts of energy at targets," said Randy Robinson, senior engineering technician, AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland AFB, N.M. "This is the first operational test of this type of weapon system, and it's great to see all of our work finally coming to fruition."

CHAMP is a three-year program, combining technologies from the AFRL, Boeing and Raytheon Ktech, to reconfigure an existing Air Force weapon system into a counter-electronics weapon.

"We took an older (weapon) which is no longer in the Air Force inventory, and made major modifications to it," said Bob Seals, Raytheon Ktech lead technician. "We only had one missile for this test, so the pressure was on."

"We were confident both the aircraft and missile would work just as they were designed to." said Maj. Joey Libro, 49th Test Squadron radar navigator. After a successful takeoff, the missile was launched over the Utah Test and Training Range, and then navigated a pre-planned flight plan, emitting bursts of high-powered energy at targets which contained data and electronic subsystems, effectively knocking them out.

"This technology marks a new era in modern day warfare," said Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works. "In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy's electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive."