Grey Havoc said:
According to this
citation the relevant part of the GLIPAR Phase I studies involved "RF Coupling to the atmosphere as an AICBM weapon, Types of AICBM devices, Scan of electromagnetic spectrum, Linear coupling of electromagnetic, Radiation to an ionized gas, Missile heat transfer, Evaluation of electromagnetic, Coupling frequencies, Verdict; Implications and conclusions". No hard information seems to be currently available on later related studies. However according to an old ARPA history document, a key driver of the radiation based and other ABM studies under GLIPAR was to provide a relatively low cost weapon that would cost "no more to use against an ICBM than it cost the enemy to launch the ICBM against us".
Nice quote, Greay Havoc. Here is a little more. This story is indeed fascinating and intertwined with the early history of lasers, ARPA, DOE at a time when superbright people had high expectations while understimating the engineering difficulties likely scalable great ideas. Thus pooring lots of hope and money. Some argued lasers would be fielded in the future, as weapons systems with the capacity to destroy incoming RVs. This was the time when the father of the US ballistic missile reentry vehicle, Arthur Kantrowitz, suggested that a very high-powered MW radiation could destroy any such incoming RVs. What was then known as "ARPA" set up a special, dedicated committee called the "Radiation Weapons Analysis Study Group" whose president was non other than the dean of Columbia's university school of electrical engineering. This Study Group cast a look at this MW and other speculative ideas.
The reference mostly associated to the MW ABM weapon theoretical study is :
S.C. Linn and A. Kantrowitz, "Electromagnetic Induced Implosion as a Weapon for Ballistic Missile Defense", AERL Report#61-824, Contract AF# 19(604)758, October 1961. (Classified)
I am not sure it is declassified but it likely is given it is more than 50 year-old now. I have seen it mentionned twice. Once in a generic study on laser history, the other listed as reference 6 page 16 of the following (unclassified) AERL Report :
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/407346.pdf
A.
