Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) Vulnerability and Lethality Analysis

Directed energy weapons (DEWs) are becoming an integral part of war fighting for the Air Force, but no general purpose computational tool exists to evaluate DEW lethality or susceptibility. The goal of this project is to remedy this situation bydeveloping the Directed Energy Weapon Analysis Tool or DEWAT code. This novel modeling and simulation code will be capable of assessing the effects of high power microwaves (HPMs) and high energy lasers on a broad range of targets includinginfrastructure, missiles, aircraft, unmanned air vehicles, and precision guided munitions. The extensive research in laser effects, vulnerability, and lethality modeling has already been incorporated in the preliminary DEWAT code organized in Phase I.HPM effects modeling will be emphasized in the Phase II effort with the development of an innovative sub-module consisting of the HPM weapon specification, propagation algorithms to the target, target penetration algorithms and empirically based componentdamage models. The output of the validated DEWAT code will be linked to system target damage models (PDAM/VALUE) in order to demonstrate seamless component damage transfer. The primary applications of DEWAT will be for DoD weapon lethality andvulnerability evaluations. Commercial sector applications include assessment of DEW threats to national infrastructure.