News | Jan. 6, 2004

Effects of Directed Energy Weapons

By Philip E. Nielsen

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Effects of Directed Energy Weapons is an encyclopedic treatment of how Directed Energy Weapons work, how the energy of these weapons is propagated to the target, and how the weapon/beam-target interaction creates effects (damage) in the target. This is a technical exposition, written at the undergraduate physics and engineering level that could serve either as a text book or as a reference text for technical practitioners. The text addresses Kinetic Energy Weapons in addition to Lasers, Microwaves and Particle Beams.

This book is on the effects of directed energy weapons in terms of how they propagate to and interact with targets. Propagation and target interaction are the key elements in an analysis of a weapon’s utility to accomplish a given mission. This book presents a unique source of information for the less-explored world of dealing with the utility of directed energy weapons. This book should also serve as an introduction to the language of directed energy weapons for military planners and other non-technical persons who need to understand what the engineers and scientists involved in their development are talking about.