A Gatling Marx Generator System for Directed Energy Defense and Radar Detection of Cruise and Ballistic Missiles

"Directed Energy and RF weapons methods for defending against cruise and ballistic missiles rely on spark gap-based systems. RF weapons rely on two parameters for effects against electronic systems; extremely high electric fields for range coveragehigh repetition rates for energy on-target heating of electronic components. High voltage pulse power systems are typically spark gap based sources that are limited in repetition rate due to switch recovery times. With this limitation, power levels aretypically increased, but at the additional cost of repetition rate. This proposal presents the Gatling Marx Generator system as an RF weapon capable of delivering peak powers of 20 GW with repetition rates of tens of kHz without using Hydrogen or high pressure oil as the spark gap medium. The multiple generator system is designed to drive a single load, an Impulse Radiating Antenna for example, and is well suited as an RF weapon or as a covert, Ultra WideBand radar source. The military market for the compact HPM system is extensive given the potential threat posed by potential missile threats. With the portable, compact Gatling system, a deployable RF weapon system may be realized beyond the laboratory environment, withpossible platforms being land-based vehicles and large aircraft (bomb bay payload). The commercial market is also potentially large. The Gatling system is well suited for medical applications for cancer treat