If directed energy weapons (DEWs) represent a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) in waiting, then there must be a traditional technological and the doctrinal paradigm struggling to remain current. With a constrained funding environment, the biggest challenge to the operational deployment of DEW systems may come from simple refinements to existing weapons’ concepts. A major variable in this competition between bullets, bombs, and missiles versus energy beams is the future of electronics, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Electronics have so far shown a tendency to lower costs, while becoming more capable, and have already been applied to the existing world of physically delivered destruction.
Electronically guided and triggered munitions are getting smaller. There are, for instance, several programmable fuse airburst 40-mm grenade systems on the market meant to explode when over or next to a target—defeating cover. The U.S. XM25 magazine-fed grenade launcher has taken this concept down to a 25-mm grenade.1 Internationally, South Korea is deploying the K11, a magazine-fed 20-mm airburst grenade launcher integrated with an assault rifle.2 Now these are still ballistic systems in that the electronics are only there to set off the grenade; the shooter still has to aim the weapon to get the grenade near enough for the airburst to be effective. On a larger scale, electronic fusing is allowing for controlled detonation of larger warheads, able to shape warhead effects—enhance blast and fragmentation or to produce an armor-penetrating stream of metal.
Precision control over how energetic materials burn or explode may give the gun all the precision desired out of DEW systems. For instance, advances in controlling muzzle velocity could make guns more usable as less-than-lethal weapon. Blunt force trauma can be lethal if used incorrectly as can be seen in numerous incidents involving baton and beanbag rounds. Safe operation of these weapons requires knowing when the target is too close. Alternatively, a reliable means to gauge distance, and bleed off the right amount of propelling gases would allow fine control over the impact velocity of less-than-lethal rounds. The principle of controlling velocity by regulating chamber pressure is already in use in paintball markers. As of early 2010, Lund Technologies has been demonstrating this concept in their Lund Variable Velocity Weapons System (LVVWS) with the help of U.S. small business innovation research funding.3
Somewhat further off in the development pipeline is the “smart bullet” concept, where a round's trajectory could be affected by onboard means, MEMS for aerodynamic steering, or control of small rocket propulsion. For all intents and purposes this sci-fi concept is based around the premise that shrinking electronics will eventually allow a missile to be bullet size. Although not offering the same “novel effects,” guided small-caliber cannon shells and perhaps even bullets offer a degree of precision comparable to that of DEWs. Leading toward this are the many defense companies offering laser-guidance kits for 2.75-inch (70 mm) diameter rockets such as the U.S. Hydra 70, or more commonly in Western militaries outside the United States, the Canadian-made CRV7. In this sense, the ongoing implosion of electronics would make DEWs an unneeded revolution.
Notes
1. XM25 is an outgrowth of the less-successful XM29 Objective Individual Combat Weapon program, which combined a 20-mm-diameter grenade system with a select fire rifle.
2. The K11 resembles the cancelled XM29, though the grenade launcher is bolt action instead of autoloading. This, however, does reduce the overall weight of the weapon.
3. Katie Drummond, “Inventors Design Less-Lethal ‘Taser Me Elmo’ Rifle,” Wired, March 22, 2010, http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/03/toy-firm-designs-less-lethal-taser-me-elmo-rifle/.