DIRECTED ENERGY PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY Air Force Research Laboratory Tours for Participants at the DE T&E Conference 9 August 2012 Albuquerque, New Mexico The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate is the Air Force's center of expertise for directed energy and optical technologies. The Directed Energy Directorate focuses in four core technical competencies: Laser Systems, High Power Electromagnetics, Weapons Modeling and Simulation, and Directed Energy and Electro-Optics for Space Superiority. AFRL pioneered the first and only megawatt class airborne laser and is a leader in ground-based space imagining using adaptive optics with our 3.5 meter telescope in New Mexico and a 3.6 meter telescope in Hawaii. The lab is transitioning game-changing counter-electronics weapon technologies that can degrade, damage or destroy electronic systems with minimum collateral damage. Tour of the Starfire Optical Range (SOR) Facility This world-class optical research facility is located on a hilltop site (6,240 feet above sea level) on Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. The SOR's primary mission is to develop optical sensing, imaging, and atmospheric propagation technologies to support Air Force aerospace missions. The SOR operates one of the world's premier adaptive-optics telescopes capable of tracking low-earth orbiting satellites. The telescope has a 3.5-meter (11.5 feet) diameter primary mirror and is protected by a retracting cylindrical enclosure that allows the telescope to operate in the open air. Using adaptive optics, the telescope distinguishes basketball-sized objects at a distance of 1,000 miles into space. Other instrumentation includes numerous smaller telescopes and beam directors, multiple laser systems, and a variety of optics, electronics, and mechanical laboratories. Tour of the Laser Effects Test Facility (LETF) and SPIDERWorks Research to better understand the physics of laser interactions on various materials is conducted at LETF. The facility has a variety of unique test equipment to support vulnerability experiments, which continuous-wave lasers such as the 15-kW Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) and two Yb+3 fiber lasers: 50- and 20-kW. Several pulsed laser systems are also used for effects testing. The lasers span the electromagnetic spectrum from the ultraviolet to the far infrared and are available to AFRL and outside customer experiments. Data collected is used in modeling and simulation which, in turn, is utilized in advancing laser technology. The Technology Applications Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate concentrates on supporting directed energy developing technologies and transitioning that research to the front-line. The Systems Engineering and Analysis Branch supports concept development, system performance, utility assessment, modeling and simulation, plus war gaming efforts to ensure AFRL directed energy technology concepts meet warfighter needs. The Systems Engineering and Analysis Branch manage three directed energy specialist teams: Simulation, Systems Integration, and Systems Assessment. SPIDERWorks (Solving Problems using Innovative Directed Energy Research Workshop) proactively solves customer problems using near-term directed energy solutions; focusing on innovation over invention. This team specializes in low-cost, short-term programs.   Copyright 2012 Directed Energy Professional Society   DHTML/JavaScript Menus by OpenCube

Last updated: 2 July 2012