Army takes over development of anti-IED system

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Army takes over development of anti-IED system

Jim Fisher
Kirtland Public Affairs May 28, 2017

MAX POWER, the hulking enemy on wheels of improvised explosive devices, left Kirtland Air Force Base and Air Force Research Laboratory-New Mexico on May 16.

The Army will take the program and its prototype forward.

The program transferred to the U.S. Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, or ARDEC, headquartered at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. ARDEC will continue research and development on MAX POWER at New Mexico Tech’s Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center near Socorro.

The MAX POWER system — in long form, the microwave attack of explosives powerful energy radiation — began as a concept within the Directed Energy Directorate in 2009, when the Defense Department was grappling with the destruction wrought by IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Mary Lou Robinson, the directorate’s lead for high-powered microwave research.

“Our scientists are innovators and we have some researchers who thought ganging a bunch of magnetrons together would be able to produce enough energy to impose an electric current into an IED and its trigger system to make it pre-fire, thus negating the threat,” she said.

A magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates microwaves.

MAX POWER evolved from a “science experiment” to an application quickly, according to Directed Energy’s 2nd Lt. Daniel Gum. The microwave source was coupled with a power source on a heavy truck chassis and MAX POWER was off and rolling.

“It was built as a system prototype; since then it has been a proof of concept: ‘Hey, we can do this; the Air Force has developed this capability,’” Gum said.

He went on to explain that MAX POWER was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012. The vehicle was on point for 19 combat missions with convoys across the IED-infested roads and highways.

The successful deployment in combat was a hallmark for the directorate and microwave technology on the battlefield, Robinson said.

“MAX POWER was one of the first directed-energy systems that we deployed and used in theater,” she said. “Active denial was deployed but never turned on. MAX POWER overcame that fear, hesitation and stigma of using something in theater that you can’t see, and it was used many times. It was a real success for AFRL, and Directed Energy in particular, to have the system deployed in an operational environment to help save lives.”

Robinson explained that ARDEC is interested in technology that provides effectiveness against explosive hazards and improvised threats. AFRL will be ready to assist as the project goes forward.

“Directed Energy is thrilled to have this technology transition to the Army and to their counter-IED office,” she said.

http://www.kafbnucleus.com/news/army-takes-over-development-of-anti-ied-system/article_1a3b491a-40b9-11e7-bbdc-67fde648b916.html
 

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