Electro-magnetic Flak for Cruise and Sea Skimming Missile Defense

The electromagnetic directed energy method (lasers, particle beams, and high power microwaves) of defending against missiles relies on generating a large amount of energy at the defense site, locating the target, and then transporting a large fraction of that energy to the target along a line of sight at the speed of light, to either destroy or destabilize the threat at as long range as possible. Cruise and sea skimming missiles are the most difficult target to intercept at long range with line of sight weapons, such as lasers, beam weapons, and high power microwaves because of the near earth operation. Practical concerns require a hard kill, that is obvious destruction or destabilization of the target, rather than a soft target kill in which the guidance electronics or memory may be impaired, but invisible to the defense system. This proposal addresses these problems by establishing a long range defensive perimeter through delivery of a defensive package to a point near the path of the target missile where the defensive package then generates a repetitive, high power, ultra-wideband, electromagnetic impulse or EM-UWB. The EM generation package can be delivered to the target via inexpensive missile, projectile, or via a UAV. This approach can be termed electro-magnetic flak or EM-Flak and greatly reduces the difficulties in targeting, and in covering a large defensive perimeter and can serve as the first line of defense. These PROPRIETARY, compact Marx circuits can also be installed permanently to form a long range EM-Flak fence around military installations. Therefore, this proposal defines a PROPRIETARY, innovative, compact, relatively inexpensive embodiment of a Marx circuit that has the power to deliver several hundred megawatts of impulse power at tens of kilohertz pulse rate. The same Marx unit can be used as a defensive weapon on fighter aircraft, a jammer on UAV or as the pollution treatment source of corona in modern automobiles.