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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office and dated 31 March 2010. It was produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. It reviews chemical, solid-state, fiber, ultra-short pulse and free-electron lasers, as well as beam control, atmospheric propagation, DoD laser history and how spacecraft could be damaged by lasers. It projects that electrically powered lasers could enable MW-class weapons and spacecraft laser weapons within 20 years. It ends with shielding recommendations for spacecraft.
From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 3/31/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD surveys the development of high-energy laser weapons and notes that, although lasers had already become important military tools for ranging, guidance, and other lower-power uses, true weapon-class systems remained limited by power generation, beam control, atmospheric propagation, and logistics. The report reviews major laser types along with the optical, tracking, and thermal-management systems needed to make them militarily useful. It argues that high-energy lasers can offer important advantages over kinetic weapons in speed, precision, and low collateral damage, especially against softer or fast-moving targets, while also emphasizing that practical deployment has long been hindered by hazardous chemical fuels, thermal blooming in the atmosphere, power-supply constraints for mobile systems, and waste-heat removal.
“Low Earth orbit”2 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ fFOA. OFFICIAL WSE er•tv Advanced airframe structures, pressure vessels and radar domes are frequently fabricated using cut glass fibers or whole fiberglass cloth layers which are impregnated with epoxy resin. These materials typically fail through a combination of thermal ablation of the epoxy and delamination. Like metals, if the piece is under aerodynam ic load or is part of a pressure vessel, failure will typically occur before complete burn through although crack initiation and propagation is less likely due to the residual strength of the fiberglass cloth after the epoxy is removed. Also, like metals the energy required for penetration is thickness dependent. Ceramic materials, similar in composition to common Corning Ware, are routinely used in high temperature applications such as radomes for multi-mach air-to-air missiles or engine components. Although designed to handle heat when absorbed slowly, it will fracture and shatter if thermally shocked at moderate irradiance levels. Due to the poor thermal conductivity of ceramic materials, a thick piece of ceramic will shatter at almost the same irradiance and fluence levels as a much thinner piece. A discussion of laser-material interaction requires background information on the hazards of eye damage from laser radiation. There is a popular misconception that there are "eye safe" laser wavelengths in the infrared. The reality is that any wavelength in the UV, visible or infrared can damage the eye or skin. The damage mechanisms and damage thresholds, however, are a function of the laser's wavelength, pulse length and pulse energy (if pu lsed) or average irradiance (if continuous). Laser wavelengths in the UV, visible and near infrared out to about 1.2 μm are the most dangerous. These wavelengths pass easily through the cornea and ocular fluid and are then focused on the retina where individual rods and cones can easily be permanently destroyed. This damage leaves the person with localized blind spots in the eye's field of view. Infrared wavelengths from about 1 μm to about 1.5 μm pass through the cornea but are absorbed by the eye's ocular fluid which results in localized heating. The damage threshold in this wavelength range is considerably higher than for retinal damage but in extreme cases the eye can be destroyed. Infrared radiation at wavelengths longer than about 1.5 μm is absorbed by the cornea and results in scarring similar to cataracts. Although it requires considerably more energy to damage the cornea than the retina, eye and skin safety at these wavelengths cannot be ignored. There are detailed ANSI standards which establish the Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) as a function of wavelength and pulse/continuous beam format. Figure 18 provides an example of single pulse MPE values for a variety of wavelengths. UNCLASSIFIED/ fFOA QFFl€1AL WSE 8NLY 21
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 31 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.