NM research could change modern warfare

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Research into radio waves at the University of New Mexico could soon change the course of modern warfare, according to a scientist in charge of the effort.

“You can pre-explode these roadside bombs before it can do any harm to our soliders,” said Professor Edl Schamiloglu.

Schamiloglu is in charge of the Pulse Power Lab at UNM and has received worldwide attention for his study of high-powered microwave energy.

Schamiloglu said the technology, which creates a powerful burst of radio waves in a very short amount of time, has many uses, from treating medical conditions to extracting oil from wells. But one of its most practical uses is developing defense weapons, he said.

Schamiloglu’s research is funded mainly by two grants from the U.S. Department of Defense -- one from the Office of Naval Research, the other from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

"What we do is very similar to what you have at home in your microwave oven,” Schamiloglu said. “The only difference is your microwave oven at home generates about a thousand watts of power and we generate a billion watts of power.”

One application of the technology he’s working on could be installed on tanks and used to set off improvised explosive devices, commonly known as IEDs, before soliders get to them. IEDs were responsible for the majority of U.S. deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Andrew Spears, an active duty member of the New Mexico National Guard, served two tours in Iraq, one in 2003 and another in 2009.

“In the beginning, there was no such thing as an IED,” he said. “It was more mortar and artillery raining down on us. Then IEDs happened around July of 2003 … Matter of fact, one of our soldiers was one of the first soldiers killed by it. And we didn’t know what happened – just something blew up on the side of the road.”

After that, IEDs became more common, and troops on the ground usually didn’t see them coming, Spears said.

The Air Force Research Lab is interested in the same technology, though for a different use.

"They'd like to fly these high-powered sources and then have these high-powered microwaves, for instance, disrupt an enemy's electronics, communications, etc. in a non-lethal manner," Schamiloglu said. "Instead of seeing a radar station and dropping a bomb on it, you would take one of these sources and be a few kilometers away and fly by them and then the microwaves will disrupt and disable that radar to work."

The Air Force Research Lab's Directed Energy Directorate, based at Albuquerque's Kirtland Air Force Base, has been developing the weapon since 2009. In October, AFRL and Boeing successfully flew a prototype called CHAMP, the Counter-Electronics High-Powered Microwave Advance Missile Project, over a test range in Utah.

"Usually you have one target, one weapon,” said Bob Torres, program manager of CHAMP. “This is many targets, one weapon. It can fly to multiple targets, engage multiple targets, disable the functionality of many facilities with just one system."

CHAMP took out all electronics, including computers and cameras meant to record the experiment, with its microwave bursts, but the buildings were left standing. Torres said enemy communication systems are often built near schools or hospitals, so the ability to disable communications without blowing up people or infrastructure is crucial.

"You don't want to end up killing a lot of people in the process," said Torres. "You just want to shut down for example the communication facility, stop them from communicating."

Torres said it will still be a number of years before the Air Force fully integrates microwave-powered weapons into the military's defenses.

Schamiloglu said when it does happen, the cutting-edge research in his lab and others across New Mexico has the potential to ultimately save the lives of U.S. soldiers on the battlefield.