SBIR-STTR Award

Optical Physics Company (OPC) has outlined a plan to develop an affordable, single-aperture, atmospheric-correction, compact beam director system for a High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon to be employed by a US Navy platform. The plan uses the knowledge and experience gained from the design of a beam director for an 8 diameter polarized HEL on a previous Navy Phase II SBIR contract (N0004-12-C-0374). Since at this time most HELs being developed are unpolarized, a new, innovative concept and design for a 12 diameter unpolarized HEL is needed that will meet the N191-025 topics goals and requirements.

Benefit:
The small size and advanced features of the proposed beam director make it suitable for multiple platforms besides Navy platform mast configurations, e.g., tactical HEL for airborne and land based platforms

Keywords:
HEL beam director, HEL beam director, single aperture, Jitter Removal, and Target Tracking, atmospheric correction

Optical Physics Company will finalize the design, manufacture, and test at low and high power an affordable, single-aperture, targettracking, atmospheric-correction, compact prototype beam director for a High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system to be employed by a US Navy platform during the Phase II Base, Option 1 and Option 2 programs. The compact prototype beam will meet Navy requirements include capability to handle 300 kW of HEL power, an elevation range of -30o to +80o and azimuth range of 360o, a closed loop pointing accuracy of

Benefit:
High energy lasers (HEL) offer the promise of a game changer weapon as the Department of Defense encounters new asymmetric and disruptive threats. Many technical problems need to be solved before HEL weapons can be integrated onto Navy platform mast configurations. One of these issues involves building and demonstrating a compact and agile HEL beam director. Optical Physics Company (OPC) believes it will accomplish this on the Phase II program. The compact HEL 12 beam director prototype is designed to meet Navy requirements such as the capability to handle 300 kW of HEL power, an elevation range of -30o to +80o and azimuth range of 360o, a closed loop pointing accuracy of

Keywords:
atmospheric compensation, Compact, single aperture, Target Tracking, thermal blooming correction and affordable, UMM conforming, HEL beam director