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May 17, 2008
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Home :: Missile Defense Systems
Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
| Country: | Israel |
|---|---|
| Range: | 10 km |
| Basing: | Land |
| In Service: | 2008 |
| Associated Country: | United States |
Details
The Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) is a joint project of the United States and Israel designed to destroy short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, ground- and air-launched rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles, mortar shells, and artillery projectiles. It consists of an advanced radar that detects and tracks incoming rockets, and a high-energy laser beam that destroys them.
Since the early 1980s, Israel has faced a constant threat from Hezbollah guerillas along its northern border. During eighteen years of fighting, the guerrillas wreaked havoc by firing numerous small, unguided Katyusha rockets at Israeli towns. The rockets were fast and low-flying and caused considerable damage. Hezbollah’s attacks were so numerous that Israel could not use interceptor missiles. In addition, since the Katyushas flew on ballistic trajectories and landed on Israeli towns unless completely destroyed, Israel could not deploy advanced machine guns such as those used by U.S. Navy ships against low-flying cruise missiles.
In 1995, the U.S. and Israel decided to address the growing problem of low-flying missiles by developing a high energy laser. The idea was to build a weapons system that could detect and eliminate threats at the speed of light while maintaining a low per-kill cost. Since Hezbollah was launching thousands of rockets, the defense system had to be capable of handling a large volume of attacks. In February 1996, the prototype U.S. high energy laser, known as Nautilus, destroyed a short-range rocket at a test site in New Mexico. It was the first time that a laser had ever destroyed a ballistic missile.
In April 1996, Hezbollah guerrillas fired over two dozen Katyusha rockets at Israel within 17 days. After that, the U.S. and Israel accelerated the high energy laser project, then known as the Tactical High Energy Laser/Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator, or THEL/ACTD. Although Israel has not been attacked since it withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, Israeli officials estimate that Hezbollah still has 11,000 Katyushas aimed at border towns.
Once operational, THEL will consist of four main components: a command center, a fire control radar, a pointer-tracker, and the high energy laser itself. The command center, known as Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I), will manage all aspects of the system, including detecting, tracking, and destroying incoming targets within THEL’s range. C3I will be operated by a two-man crew: a commander and a gunner.
Positioned near the hostile zone, the fire control radar will continuously scan the horizon for threats. Once an incoming rocket has been detected, the radar will calculate the target’s trajectory and enable the pointer-tracker to lock on to the target. THEL will be mounted on a large gimbaled assembly that will allow the pointer-tracker to swivel when tracking the rockets.
Once the target is within range, the pointer-tracker will focus THEL’s high-energy deuterium-fluoride (DF) laser beam on the incoming rocket. The DF laser beam is created by mixing fluorine atoms with helium and deuterium to generate DF in an excited state. A resonator extracts the DF and transforms it into a beam of coherent, monochromatic light.
The beam itself is only a few inches in diameter, but is powerful enough to heat steel at 200 yards or more. The pointer-tracker will keep the laser beam focused on the incoming rocket until the intense heat causes the warhead to explode. Debris from the blast will fall short of the rocket’s intended target, thus effectively neutralizing the threat. Once deployed, THEL will be capable of firing 60 shots before reloading. The system will operate at a per-kill cost of approximately $3,000, making it one of the most inexpensive anti-missile systems in existence.
In 2002, Northrop Grumman acquired TRW, the company that had been in charge of THEL up to that point. Northrop Grumman currently manages the system’s development and testing. Other U.S. contractors include Ball Aerospace and Brashear LP, while Israeli partners include Electro-Optic Industries, Israel Aircraft Industries, Yehud Industrial Zone, RAFAEL, and Tadiran.
To date, THEL has destroyed 28 Katyusha test rockets and five test artillery shells. On May 4, 2004, THEL’s new transportable version, known as the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL), tracked and destroyed a large-caliber test rocket at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Ranch in New Mexico. The rocket flew faster and higher than the Katyushas, and carried a live warhead. The U.S. and Israel expect MTHEL to be operational and ready for deployment by 2007.
Sources
Ackerman, Robert K. “Mobile Laser Offers Tactical Defense.” Signal, 1 November 2003.
American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.
Defense Update.
Federation of American Scientists.
“Israel, U.S. Test Laser That Can Knock Down Rockets.” Dow Jones International News, 29 October 2003.
Kincade, Kathy. “Military Moves Forward With MTHEL Project.” Optoelectronics Report, 1 April 2004.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, MTHEL Description.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, MTHEL Press Release, 6 May 2004.
Northrop Grumman Capitol Source, MTHEL Description.
Northrop Grumman Capitol Source, MTHEL Press Release, 21 August 2003.
O’Sullivan, Arieh. “US-Israeli Laser Test Partially Successful.” The Jerusalem Post, 2 May 2004.
Popular Mechanics.
Roosevelt, Ann. “Laser Weapon System Work Could Start This Summer.” Defense Daily, 10 March 2004.
Selinger, Marc. “Army Poised To Award MTHEL Contract To NG.” Aerospace Daily, 8 December 2003.
Selinger, Marc. “Laser To Target Large-caliber Rockets For First Time, U.S. Army Says.” Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, 29 April 2004.
Spectrum Online.
South Korea Develops Laser Weapons
The November 10 edition the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reports that the South Korean Defense Ministry is researching and developing a mobile, truck-mounted laser weapon. The weapon, scheduled to be deployed sometime after 2010, would intercept North Korean missiles or long-range artillery shells. It is unclear whether this sort of system might resemble the former joint THEL program of the United States and Israel.
» More stories on: South Korea
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Barak: Israel Missile Defense Capabilities Rising
Israel will have a shield that will protect it from "about 90 percent of Shihab to Kassam rocket attacks within a few years," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset State Control Committee on Tuesday.
Furthermore, we are giving high priority to the production of a system involving several projects, which, within a few years, will provide protection for Israel from about 90 percent of all attempts to fire rockets at us, from Shihab missiles to Kassams," the defense minister said. "In the longer range, we will have, for many reasons, to achieve a much higher interception level.
The Iron Dome, a kinetic interception system designed to eliminate Kassam rockets, will be ready in a few years. The Iron Dome is just one of missile defense systems currently under development, along with the Arrow 2. When completed, the Iron Dome and the Arrow 2 missile defense layers will buttress the existing system which includes a series of Patriot missile batteries and Arrow missiles.
Israel is considering upgrading its current Patriot missile batteries to the PAC-3 model, and debating whether to deploy the Skyguard system, a version of what was once known as the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) missile defense which utilizes lasers to target short range missiles.
» More stories on: Israel
» Missile system details for: Arrow, Patriot, Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Carafano: U.S. Should Help Israel Deploy Directed-Energy Defenses
The U.S. should help Israel deploy anti-rocket defense using available, proven, directed-energy technologies in less than two years, argues James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation. He notes that the two nations have already jointly developed a short-range laser system, the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL), but chose not to deploy it. Instead, the Pentagon decided to invest its resources in more advanced directed-energy research that would lead to more mobile systems that could be quickly shifted around the battlefield. Yet prototypes for these new systems will not be available until at least 2013, during which Hezbollah could rearm and instigate another war a half-dozen times. “Congress has an opportunity to jump-start the process by including the necessary funding in the annual defense appropriations bill, but so far, it has let the opportunity pass,” writes Carafano. “The Pentagon doesn’t want the proven directed-energy defenses—an attitude that clearly proves the old adage that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Waiting for futuristic technology won’t help deter war in the Middle East, but deploying a directed-energy defense now will take the threat of rocket wars off the table.” In addition to defending all of Israel’s borders, these systems could be used by the U.S. to defend against short-range missile attacks on commercial aircraft or protect critical infrastructure like nuclear power plants.
» More stories on: Allies, Analysis, High Energy Defenses, Israel, Terrorism
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Israel Examines Skyguard to Counter Hezbollah Rockets
Israel’s defense ministry recently asked the Pentagon for information about Skyguard, a next-generation chemical laser system for intercepting short-range Katyusha and Kassam rockets, reports Reuters. Skyguard is being developed by Northrop Grumman, and is based on the Tactical High Energy Laser, a joint project between the U.S. and Israel in the 1990s that had subsequently been canceled. Israel is reportedly interested in obtaining an export license for Skyguard, which would allow it to deploy the high-energy system to defend strategic sites in northern Israel against Hezbollah’s continuous barrage of short-range rockets.
» More stories on: High Energy Defenses, Israel, Terrorism
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Codevilla on THEL and Mideast Conflict
Angelo M. Codevilla, professor of international relations at Boston University and a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute, today discusses the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) and the role it might have played in defending Israel against Hezbollah’s Katyusha rockets, had it not been canceled. Codevilla notes that the technical problem in shooting down Katyushas has always been their short flight time, from their appearance over the horizon to their impact, which precludes the use of any normal Patriot-type surface-to-air interceptor missile. Katyushas are cheap and numerous (they are not ballistic missiles) and could easily overwhelm such defenses. The only way to effectively destroy Katyushas in flight, Codevilla notes, is through rapid fire, multi shot, directed energy weapons. During the 1990s, the U.S. and Israel developed such a system known as THEL, and by 1998 the system had been successfully tested against Katyusha rockets at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Yet THEL was never deployed in Israel. Codevilla draws two conclusions, first that the decision not to deploy a workable defense is a result of “the flawed McNamara logic of almost a half century ago, that defense was not ‘cost effective.’…But consider the cost of not defending against them: the enemy was able to make a big chunk of the country uninhabitable..” Codevilla’s second point is that the ground-based laser technology is similar to the space based laser project which has also since been abandoned.
Codevilla makes good points about the unique capabilities of the THEL program, which is uniquely suited to the short range artillery such as that facing Israel from Hezbollah terrorists. But much has happened with the THEL program since 2000, including successful testing, upgrades, and the transformation of THEL into “MTHEL,” with a mobile capability.
Codevilla’s analysis omits reports that the U.S.-Israel cooperation on THEL was suspended in 2005 after Israel had transferred technologies to China, or of some other details in the THEL story.
As recent events in Lebanon have again shown, the United States and Israel have many and profound common interests—indeed are somewhat natural allies. To benefit from that natural alliance, Israel should perhaps not be transferring systems to China, which of course sells weapons to Israel’s enemies, including Iran and Pakistan. Israel’s lack of THEL system today may be the result of not just bad strategic thinking about assured destruction from the McNamara era (thinking Israel arguably never adopted), but perhaps also from a lack of clarity in the past about allies.
» July 12, 2006: Northrop Grumman unveils Skyguard program, apparent reincarnation of THEL
» May 18, 2005: Glick: Cooperation on THEL suspended because of Israeli tech transfer to China
» More stories on: Analysis, Israel
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
NYT Profiles THEL System
The New York Times recently profiled the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), a joint U.S.-Israeli development program that was canceled in September 2005. The project was conceived in the mid-1990s when Hezbollah guerrillas began firing Katyusha rockets at northern Israel. The contract was approved by the U.S. and Israel in April 1996, and work began at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The prototype THEL was roughly the size of six city buses, and included a chemical laser, fuel tanks, a rotating mirror, radar, and a command center. In 2000, the laser successfully destroyed an armed Katyusha in a test at White Sands, and soon thereafter shot down two dozen more. Despite these successes, the system was judged “too costly, feeble, and unwieldy for battlefield use,” according to the Times. The article quotes Yiftah S. Shapir, a military analyst at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, who said that one Hezbollah guerrilla with a rocket launcher could fire 40 Katyushas in less than a minute, meaning that Israel would have had to deploy “a few dozen of these systems” at the Lebanese border. Firing THEL just once would have cost roughly $3,000, and if properly deployed the system would have likely run into the billions of dollars. David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, concurred with Shapir’s analysis. “The program was terminated because of its prohibitive costs,” he said.
All the same, Israel now has no defense against Katyusha rockets, and is paying the price in many ways.
» More stories on: Israel, Terrorism
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), White Sands Missile Range
Hezbollah: All of Northern Israel in Rocket Range
Ha’aretz reports that the militant Islamic terrorist organization Hezbollah has 12,000 Katyusha rockets deployed in Lebanon capable of striking all of northern Israel. On May 24, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah stated unequivocally: “Any hand that reaches out to our weapons is an Israeli hand that will be cut off.”
For reasons like these, the U.S. and Israel have been collaborating on such defensive systems as the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), designed to track and destroy incoming rockets with a high-energy laser beam. Some recent reports have suggested, however, that the U.S. may be withdrawing funding from THEL
» More stories on: Allies, Israel, Terrorism
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Glick: U.S. Could Suspend Arrow and THEL Collaboration with Israel
Caroline Glick writes in The Jerusalem Post that the U.S. has reportedly suspended its cooperation with Israel on the Arrow and Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) missile defense projects. Ms. Glick references an official source quoted by Middle East Newsline as saying of the pullback from military cooperation, “It’s all about China.”
Israel is the largest exporter of high-tech weapons to China. The Pentagon fears that China could, among other things, use its Israeli weapons against U.S. forces in a future Taiwan conflict. Glick notes that Israel should stop arming the Chinese or risk damaging its strategic relationship with the U.S. She also notes that by arming China, Israel is actually helping its regional enemies. China of course also exports weapons to Iran and Pakistan.
» More stories on: Allies, China, Israel, Proliferation
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
THEL Laser Interception Test Successful
While Israel’s second test of the Arrow-2 interceptor resulted in a failure to destroy an air launched target, a test of the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) was successful, developer Northrop Grumman today announced.
The test took place at White Sands Missile Range on August 24, and was against not ballistic missiles but smaller mortar rounds. The press release notes that “as the nation’s only laser weapon, the THEL testbed has shot down a variety of threats since 2000, showing its versatility by destroying about three dozen targets, ranging from Katyusha rockets to artillery shells and large-caliber rockets, and now mortar threats as well.”
The success of the THEL against such smaller threats should point, however, to the potential against larger missiles. Whether based in the air, on land, or in space, the potential for high energy defenses which operate at the speed of light is unmatched by any countermeasure technology.
» Northrop Grumman press release
» More stories on: High Energy Defenses
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