Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:26am by Liz Klimas
Boeing has completed another successful test for technology that fries enemy electronics with little to no collateral damage to other objects. This news comes a little more than a year after TheBlaze reported on Boeing’s previous successes with its Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP).
Boeing describes CHAMP as “a non-kinetic alternative to traditional explosive weapons that use the energy of motion to defeat a target.” In its most recent test that took place last week with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., over the Utah Test and Training Range, Boeing proved CHAMP could follow a pre-programmed flight plan and wipe out enemy target data and electronic subsystems by emitting high amounts of energy.
Boeings Counter electronics High powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project Successfully Knocks Out Computers in Test
Computers inside CHAMP’s target building before it was blasted with high-energy microwaves. (Image: Boeing)
Boeings Counter electronics High powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project Successfully Knocks Out Computers in Test
Computers were knocked offline after the missile was fired. (Image: Boeing)
“This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare,” Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works, said in the company’s press release. “In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive.”
Boeings Counter electronics High powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project Successfully Knocks Out Computers in Test
Artist’s rendition of the missile. (Image: Boeing)
Watch this Boeing report on the latest test of the first fully functional CHAMP:
In a recent feature on CHAMP’s latest test, Boeing describes how the missile approached a two-story building, fired high-powered microwaves at it and effectively knocked out the computers and other electrical systems inside. It states that even the cameras that were inside the building to record the test were wiped out.
“Today we turned science fiction into science fact,” Coleman said in Boeing’s feature.