Directed Energy Weapons: Home

Source: Laser and kinetic SDI weapons artwork. Photograph. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 22 October 2018. quest.eb.com/search/132_1583156/. Accessed 21 February 2021. 

Directed energy weapons, seen in popular science fiction films, read about in laboratory experiments, are quite real and can be used for destructive purposes. According to DOD’s Joint Publication 3–13 Electronic Warfare, directed energy (DE) is described as an; umbrella term covering technologies that produce a beam of concentrated electromagnetic energy or atomic or subatomic particles. A DE weapon is a system using DE primarily as a direct means to disable, damage or destroy adversary equipment, facilities, and personnel. DE warfare is military action involving the use of DE weapons, devices, and countermeasures to either cause direct damage or destruction of adversary equipment, facilities, and personnel, or to determine, exploit, reduce, or prevent hostile use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) through damage, destruction, and disruption. (Department of Defense Joint Publication 3-13.1, Electronic Warfare (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 2012)).

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