The technology that will be delivered in Phase III, is an integrated 5 watt 532 nanometer ruggedized, fieldable green, Laser Dazzler system. The heart of the system is the compact 532nm laser, currently being developed by LE Systems Inc. The laser will be integrated with a tunable power supply, a reflective beam expander, and interlocked to a rangefinder sized to provide an eye-safe beam. The system will be able to operate from either battery power or a power source of opportunity. The deliverable 5-watt system will provide a unique testbed for demonstrating a number of applications of the technology for Military and Law Enforcement communities. The LE Systems Inc. Laser Dazzler baseline system, developed in conjunction with a joint NIJ, DARPA and USAF Phillips Laboratory contract, has been scaled to the 0.5-watt level, and will be used in the Phase I program, and provide a baseline for the Phase II design effort. The proposed effort extends the 532nm technology to a level that will supply test data for a number of longer range Military and Law Enforcement requirements.
Benefits: For a number of years, we have been able to locate targets, intruders, and etc. in all types of environments and at various ranges. The issue always has been, how do you deter and/or stop the aggressor, and how do you distinguish between friend or foe. Adding to the problem is that in many cases the target maybe an innocent person or persons who has just happened to wander into a restricted area. With the increase of threats to both civilian and military targets throughout the world, and the political ramifications of the use of force, methods to defuse situations in a true non-lethal fashion needed to be developed and tested. The proposed program will deliver a higher power Laser Dazzler system with tunable output intensity to provide the necessary level of output light for long range and wide-angle applications. The non-lethal laser light incapacitates the target by providing a temporary "optical wall" between the target and the source. The current handheld Laser Dazzler has been designed to be eye-safe at the aperture to all current FDA and ANSI standards, by limiting the power to 2.55 milliwatts/cm2. Since an area defense platform will allow for a larger aperture system and minimum engagement ranges can be preset, eye-safe at the aperture is not an issue. The Phase III 5-watt laser demonstration system will provide the platform to obtain test data for all government agencies on the "optical wall" effect. Based on the interest to protect not only our naval ships in port, but also all assets of our government, LE Systems Inc. believes that the development of a smaller, higher power and more efficient 532nm Laser Dazzler will be of interest not only to the Navy, but all branches of the services and other Government agencies, as well as security agencies in the private sector.
Keywords: Non-Lethal, Eyesafe, Force Protection, Asset Protection, Target Identification, Wide Area, Long Range, Barrier
