EW Academy · Contents · Chapter 19 · Nederlandse versie
Chapter 19: Directed Energy Weapons
Concentrated EM energy as a weapon: High-Energy Laser (HEL) and High-Power Microwave (HPM). How they work, their pros and cons, the spectrum of effects from dazzle to destroy, counter-DEW, and why DEW blurs the line between soft kill (EA) and hard kill.
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19.1Beyond the laser rangefinder
The laser chapter ( Laser and military applications ) treats lasers mainly as measuring and marking instruments : rangefinding and target designation. Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) go a step further: they use concentrated electromagnetic…
Read §19.1 →19.2High-Energy Laser (HEL)
A HEL focuses optical power on one point and heats or burns the target: drones, missiles, optics and sensors. Its strengths are speed-of-light effect, pinpoint precision, a low cost per shot and a deep magazine. But the limitations are…
Read §19.2 →19.3High-Power Microwave (HPM)
An HPM weapon transmits a very short, very powerful radio pulse that overloads electronics — a bit like a lightning strike close by. It does not need to aim precisely: everything in the beam takes the hit.
Read §19.3 →19.4A spectrum of effects: dazzle, deny, destroy
DEW runs from soft to hard , and in doing so touches exactly on the EW material of earlier chapters:
Read §19.4 →19.5Counter-DEW and challenges
Like every capability, DEW provokes countermeasures, and it has its own limitations:
Read §19.5 →