RTX's CHIMERA High-Power Microwave System Excels During Three-Week Field Test
January 31, 2024 | RTXEstimated reading time: 1 minute
The Air Force Research Laboratory and Raytheon, an RTX business, have successfully completed a three-week field test of the CHIMERA high-power microwave (HPM) weapon at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. During the test, CHIMERA applied directed energy to multiple static target variations and demonstrated end-to-end fire control by acquiring and tracking aerial targets and maintaining tracking for the entire flight path.
The Counter-Electronic High-Power Microwave Extended-Range Air Base Defense system, known as CHIMERA, was built to fire highly concentrated radio energy at multiple middle-to-long-range targets. The ground-based demonstration system wields more power than other HPM systems to defeat airborne threats at the speed of light.
"High-power microwave systems are cost-effective and reliable solutions that play an important role in layered defense by increasing magazine depth and giving warfighters more options to defeat adversaries quickly," said Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon. "The successful test of CHIMERA is a testament to the strong partnership between Raytheon and the AFRL, and our commitment to developing non-kinetic solutions that can counter increasingly sophisticated threats."
CHIMERA is part of the Directed Energy Front-line Electromagnetic Neutralization and Defeat (DEFEND) program, which is a joint service effort to design, build and test HPM systems for front-line deployment. Raytheon is partnering with experts at the AFRL, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to complete this work.
"This is what the power of government and industry partners can achieve: critical technology that can be inserted in an integrated mission architecture alongside other directed energy tech and kinetics. It is imperative that AFRL, in partnership with industry and academia, continue to innovate and feed these architectures now and in the future," said Dr. Shery Welsh, director, Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory.
Suggested Items
Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2024: Magnalytix's Services and Trends in the Electronics Industry
05/10/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOMike Bixenman, president of Magnalytix, explains Magnalytix's services, including third-party validation, test boards, electrical testing, and comprehensive reports. He also discusses emerging trends such as power electronics and reliability. Standards and design improvements also form part of this conversation.
BAE Systems and Eaton Expand Collaboration to Deliver Electric Drive Solutions for Heavy-Duty Trucks
05/08/2024 | PRNewswireBAE Systems, a leader in electric propulsion, and Eaton, a global power management company, are expanding their collaboration to include electric vehicle (EV) solutions for heavy-duty trucks.
Happy’s Tech Talk #28: The Power Mesh Architecture for PCBs
05/07/2024 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkA significant decrease in HDI substrate production cost can be achieved by reducing the number of substrate layers from conventional through-hole multilayers and microvia multilayers of eight, 10, 12 (and more), down to four. Besides reducing direct processing steps, yield will increase as defect producing operations are eliminated.
Synopsys, Samsung Electronics Collaborate to Achieve First Production Tapeout of Flagship Mobile CPU
05/03/2024 | PRNewswireSynopsys, Inc. announced that Samsung Electronics has achieved successful production tapeout for its high-performance mobile SoC design, including flagship CPUs and GPUs, with 300MHz higher performance using Synopsys.ai™ full stack AI-driven EDA suite and a broad portfolio of Synopsys IP on Samsung Foundry's latest Gate-All-Around (GAA) process technologies.
Industrial PC Market Size to Record $1.75 Billion Growth from 2023-2027
05/03/2024 | PRNewswireThe global industrial pc market size is estimated to grow by USD 1.75 billion from 2023 to 2027, according to Technavio. This growth is expected to occur at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost 6.29% during the forecast period.