The US Navy want to test its first high - power microwave oven weapon on board a ocean - do watercraft as early as 2026 . Known as Project METEOR , the data-based weapons system will blast out beams of intense electromagnetic Energy Department to fry the electronics of drone .
METEOR will “ offer capability with dispirited cost - per - shot , deep cartridge , tactically important compass , forgetful time engagement for multi - target approaching , dual deception and defeat capability , ” harmonize toUnited States Naval Institute News , cite the Navy ’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget documents .
Microwave weapon are part of theUS war machine ’s interestin directed energy systems , a newfangled stock of weapons that can damage targets without solid missile . Along with microwave , this includes things likelasers , soundwaves , and even molecule light beam .
High - power microwave oven weapons utilize a super gamey - frequence moving ridge of electromagnetic push to damage electronics . If used to point a drone , the flurry of waves would quickly render the equipment useless . compare to missiles , smoke , and other fly packages of destruction , each shotis relatively cheap(at least in theory ) .
The push for microwave weapons and other directed vim systems is partially a response to the salary increase of low - price drones , which have radically changed the nature of modern warfare , as shown by the Russia - Ukraine conflict , the war in Gaza , andthe Red Sea crisis . Cheap , modifiable , and easily approachable , new drone technologies can be used by humble ground forces and guerilla groups to cause significant damage and disruption to even the world ’s most robust war machine .
One of the most concerning scourge is pilotless aircraft swarms that could coordinate dozens – perhaps even hundreds or thousands – of machines , in a coordinated attack . It ’s probable this type of technology will become progressively integrated with artificial intelligence operation ( AI ) in the age to come , further adding to the peril .
Defending against this kind of foeman using ceremonious weaponry is pricey , but directed energy weapons could predict to lather that price while remaining highly effective .
“ Directed energy is essentially electromagnetic radiation , whether it ’s light or RF [ Radio frequency ] energy , and therefore travels at the f number of light , ” Dr Frank Peterkin , the Principal Director for Directed Energy in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering , say during a late webinar , accord toDefenseScoop .
“ For those of you who have n’t looked up your physics books recently , for comparison , we spill about hypersonic threats being really , really fast — that ’s somewhere in the 5 to 15 Mach orbit . The f number of luminousness is about 100,000 times firm than anything we or anybody else is field with hypersonic systems . It ’s really fast , ” Peterkin added .
Other countries are also ramping up their directed Department of Energy weapons . The UK has of late show off its DragonFire organisation , effectively a giant laser gas pedal capable of charge down airborne targets . The UK Ministry of Defence ( MOD)released a videoof the implements of war in action , take it can hit a coin - sized target from 1 km ( 0.62 miles ) out .
