History of 'Directed Energy Weapons'
[updated and based on research by ewing2001 aka nico haupt, also highlighted at fcs.shortURL.com ]


PRE 9/11

1900s - 1943
Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943) noted inventor, scientist and electrical engineer, works on plans for a directed-energy weapon.
He calls it "teleforce" weapon, or death ray.
This death ray would "send concentrated beams of particles through the free air,
of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes
at a distance of 250 miles (400 km) from a defending nation's border.[1]

1940s
Nazi Germany increasingly put its hopes on research into technologically revolutionary secret weapons, the Wunderwaffen.
Among the directed-energy weapons the Nazis investigated were sonic weaponry, using parabolic reflectors to project sound waves of destructive force.[1]

1970s
Shiva Star, originally just SHIVA, starts as a high-powered pulsed-power research device located at the Air Force Research Laboratory
on the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The program is later re-directed to studies for the Strategic Defense Initiative. [2]

1979
E. Anthony Fessler releases "Directed-Energy Weapons: a Juridical Analysis" [15]

1982
Jeffery Lynn Prewitt releases "The Deployment of Directed Energy Weapons in Outer Space: An Evolution. Master's Thesis".[16]

1980s
Ronald Reagan proposes his Strategic Defense Initiative program, which was immediately nicknamed Star Wars. The program includes Directed Energy Weapons.


January 1982
Popular Science Magazine releases a cover story about "Beam Weapons".
The article states that "space-based lasers or particle beam devices could kill enemy missiles almost instantaneosly".
Wyoming Senator Malcolm Wallop, who favors speedy development:
"Actual physical pieces of the system already exist. Only the money and the will to put them
together is lacking".
Of three systems tested, only the TRW laser has direct application to space.
"Chemical Lasers are well suited to space because they need no electrical hookups.
Because the beam results from chemistry, not from the sudden discharge of a capacitor-battery system, it can be fired in rapid, single-shot bursts, or be left on until its fuel is gone."
DARPA's leading chemical laser for space deployment is called Alpha, a device forecast to produce five-megawatt pulses of 2.7-micron laser light using a four-meter glass mirror.
It is thus the basis for a mythical weapon called "5/4".
Alpha is under development at TRW and Rockwell's Rocketdyne.
The Talon Gold equipment, under development at Lockheed Corp., will be tested aboard a military manned Space Shuttle mission in 1985.
Space-weapon activists in Congress and Industry want a Manhattan Project-type commitment to have a laser picket-line operating by the eary 1990s.
They say such a priority is justified because the Soviet Union is far ahead of the U.S. and has already demonstrated one laser in space.


1987
Dietrich Schroeer releases "Directed-Energy Weapons and Strategic Defence: A Primer"

1987
Avco-Everett Research Lab., MA. publicizes a "Nuclear reactor magnetohydrodynamic power generator for directed energy weapons" [23]

February 1990
The Relay mirror experiment (RME) launches, which demonstrates critical technologies for space-based relay mirrors to be used with an SDI Directed-energy weapon system.
The experiment is supported by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

1990s
After blockling a free energy cold fusion project on behalf of U.S. Department of Energy,
Professor Steven E. Jones (Los Alamos) collaborates in experiments including on Directed Energy, Antimatter and Neutrino
at physics labs, including TRIUMF (Vancouver, British Columbia), KEK (Tsukuba, Japan), and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Oxford University.


Aug. 22, 1991
First official full scale satellite lethality experiment is using a high energy laser successfully completed with the MIRACL laser.

1992
The Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System (PLVTS) Program starts.


August 1992
Army Space Command, home of satellite systems, Army astronauts and Army Space Support Teams, merges with the command.

1995
Shiva Star, now as part of SDI, creates the idea of "compact toroids" of high-density plasma.
The plasma projectiles would be shot at a speed expected to be 3000 km/s in 1995 and 10,000 km/s (3% of the speed of light) by 2000. A shot has the energy of 5 pounds of TNT exploding.

1996-1999
Intellectual underpinnings of Future Combat Systems through Army After Next, a series of wargames.

1997
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) officially starts to work with Directed Energy Weapons. [64]

1997
The Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL), an experimental U.S. Navy deuterium fluoride laser developed by TRW, is successfully tested against an Air Force satellite.

October 1, 1997
The Department of the Army creates its newest major command – the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC).
It is linked to the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF), at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. [27][52]

October 2, 1997
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen approves "an experiment that will be used to reduce the vulnerability of U.S. satellite systems.
The purpose of the experiment is to collect data that will help improve computer models used for planning protection measures for U.S. satellites."
The experiment is being conducted by the U.S. Army's Mid-Infra-Red Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) located at White Sands Missile Range, NM.


21.10.97
sat-net.com confirms that "MIRACL [built by TRW] is an offshoot of the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative" (SDI) [62]

10/23/97
fas.org releases a paper, which states that "last week's test firing of a laser beam targeting an air force satellite failed to provide the Pentagon with all
the information it wanted about how vulnerable american satellites might be to a laser attack by a hostile nation"

1998
In Britain, the Second Annual Directed Energy Weapons conference includes the UK Ministry of Defence, Raytheon, US Air Force Research Laboratory, TRW,
Litton-TASC, US Naval Medical Research Laboratory, National Defence Research Est. (Sweden) and Marconi. [30]


1999
The Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) is created.
Among their most prominent members are demolition expert Van Romero and Norman Mineta (ex-Lockheed).
Before 9/11, Romero will become a Roundtable Discussion moderator of “The Future of Directed Energy Education"


February 08, 1999
"Team SBL IFX" is created.
Project Title: Directed Energy Technology for Countering Indirect Weapons.
Among the Board members are Dr. Rettig P. Benedict, Jr, (The Schafer Corporation); Dr. Robert L. Byer (Stanford Photonics Research Center),
Dr. Alan H. Epstein (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Dr. Madeleine L. Naudeau (Sandia National Laboratories) and Dr. Gregory H. Canavan
(Los Alamos National Laboratory/DARPA Directed Energy Panel) .

March 1998
Boeing and TRW, together known as "Team SBL" are awarded a six-month contract worth $10 million to define the concepts for a Space-Based Laser Readiness Demonstrator (SBLRD). [32]


July 10, 1998
TRW Inc. is awarded a $77.8 million contract by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
to design, build and operate the Geosynchronous Lightweight Technology Experiment (GeoLITE) satellite program...
...The company has also built seven NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Systems (TDRSS) satellites,
eight Navy UHF Fleet Satellite Communications satellites, 16 Defense Satellite Communication System (DSCS II) satellites and eight INTELSAT III satellites...


November 30, 1998
jya.com reports that "in the 13 months since it test-fired the nation's most powerful laser at a dying Air Force satellite,
the Army has quietly continued refining the system's ability to track and defeat satellites while the debate over "space control" weapons continues..." [61]

1999
U.S. Army begins concept for Future Combat Systems under Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, who describes it as part of the "objective force".
After 9/11, Shinseki also becomes one of the leading strategists in the "war on terror" in Iraq.

February 1999
The USAF awards a contract for the SBL Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL-IFX), the new name for SBLRD,
which stands for Space-Based Laser Readiness Demonstrator. [32]

May 19, 1999
science.nasa.gov reports about new advanced "Star Wars technology",
which also is "transmitting enough data through a communications line to produce 3D images..." [21]

November 30, 1999
Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi until 1998, is acquired by British Aerospace (BAe) to form BAE Systems. [28]
Original owner Guglielmo Marconi (25 April 1874 - 20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor,
best known for his development of a radiotelegraph system, competing with other patents of Hertz, Branley, Tesla, and Lodge.[29]

2000
The NSA, NRO and NASA gives out at least 40 contracts for Future Combat System, which integrates Directed Energy Weapons.
Officially four industry teams are competing in the first phase of the program. The Boeing Company leads a team of eight firms.
TRW Inc. leads Team Gladiator, which has six companies.
Team Full Spectrum, which has 10 companies, is led by SAIC. The fourth competitor, called Team Focus Vision,
has 13 members and is led jointly by General Dynamics Land Systems and the Raytheon Company.
The concept design phase is "scheduled for completion by October 2001". [11]

March 2000
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, BAe and Raytheon create B2B Exchange for the Aerospace- and Defense Industry.
Through its products, portals and services, Commerce One creates access to worldwide markets, "allowing anyone to buy from anyone, anytime, anywhere".[6]


April 26, 2000
Spacedaily reports that TRW conducted a test of the Alpha high-energy laser that produced a 25 percent increase in the laser's output power and improved its quality.
The "six-second test of the megawatt-class Alpha was performed March 28 at TRW's Capistrano Test Site in Southern California as part of the Alpha Laser Optimization (ALO) program.
ALO is funded jointly by the Air Force and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO)..."
The photo story includes Dr. Rettig P. Benedict, Jr., DEPS Team, Founder of ASAT Weaponry. [33]

September 2000
Randy Buff, Scientist at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, confirms that his office is considering to integrate
"use of high-energy laser weapons for FCS..."
Nationaldefensemagazine points out that FCS will be the platform for what the Army calls the "objective force". [46]


October 17, 2000
Blackstone, to be integrated into TRW, obtains the mortgage for WTC 7.
The press text says that "it has purchased, from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association,
the participating mortgage secured by 7 World Trade Center, a commercial office complex controlled by real estate developer Larry Silverstein..." [35]

30 October - 3 November 2000.
The 3rd Annual Directed Energy Symposium Proceedings takes place in Albuquerque, NM.
Preliminary Program and Registration is at Kirtland Air Force Base, White Sands Missile Range.


November 6, 2000
TRW, Inc. is releasing a press release confirming that SBL-IFX is "awarded $97 Million For Next Phase Of Space-Based Laser Program..." [34]

28 November 2000
Space.com reports about the Space-Based Laser (SBL) concept:
"...The idea is seen as next-generation directed-energy weaponry, whereby dozens of space platforms would be interlinked to create an Earth-orbiting global missile defense system..."
In early November, the Air Force awarded a $97 million contract to three companies:
TRW Space & Electronics Group, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Operations and Boeing Space & Communications Group. [20]


2001
Lt. Gen. John Costello, the USASMDC commander, observes that “directed energy technology has the potential to be a key component in the
Army transformation effort.”

Jan. 25, 2001
Spacedaily reports about a successful "integrated ground test of the Alpha high-energy laser, its beam director telescope
and the associated beam alignment and correction system" which have provided the team developing the Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL-IFX) .
Team SBL-IFX, is a joint-venture comprising TRW, Lockheed Martin and Boeing [17]

2001
Dr. Gerald A. Smith founds Positronics Research LLC, Santa Fe, N.M
(AntiMatter Weaponry).
He is also the Principal Investigator and spokesperson for several major national and international collaborations
involving university groups working at Brookhaven National Laboratory, CERN, Fermilab and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. [58]


April 30, 2001 - December 16, 2003
Lieutenant General Joseph M. Cosumano Jr., is the commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) and the U.S. Army Space Command. [53]

Summer 2001
Nanoenergetics Inc./NovaCentrix starts working on Nanothermite Weaponry aka 'super thermite', under a $250,000 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract to develop wall-breaching rounds that can be fired from weapons like a rocket launcher.

September 2001
nationaldefensemagazine describes "laser weapons for ground combat—ranging from air-defense chemical lasers that destroy incoming rockets to smaller devices that could zap enemy antennas".
"...The Air Force is developing a megawatt airborne laser that would destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles...
...For the future combat system, the Army’s next-generation tank, the goal is to have a 100-kilowatt, un-cooled, solid-state laser...
...In the commercial sector, TRW Inc. has built 4-5 kilowatt solid-state lasers, for industrial machining applications.
The company is a prime contractor for military chemical-laser programs, including THEL, the airborne laser and the space-based laser projects..." [41]

September 11, 2001
On the morning of 9/11, the NRO, who gave out contracts on Future Combat System, is officially putting a terror exercise on hold.
Spokesman Art Haubold tells UPI, “It was just a coincidence. It wasn't an anti-terrorism exercise. It was an emergency response exercise. It was just a strange coincidence”.
The NRO’s internal war-gaming division planned the drill. NGA public affairs 301.227.7370 OMW (Office of Future Warfare Systems)
is NGA’s main point of contact for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) which works with Directed Energy Weapons since at least 1997. [5]

9/11
Both Twin Towers disintegrate for unexplained reasons, wiping out also complete DNAs.
Early speculations on the internet point on "Tesla Weapons obtained by unknown terrorists".
This spin is later replaced by a much more popular, so called conventional 'controlled demolition' thesis.


POST 9/11


September 28th, 2001
smdc.army.mil celebrates the SSHCL, at a ribbon ceremony.
Among the participants are Dr. Randy Buff (SSHCL at SMDC); Lt. Col. Lynn Tronti, director,
HELSTF ; Dr. William H. Goldstein (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
It says that HELSTF has "enough electrical efficiency to produce a 100-kilowatt laser beam from one megawatt of power..." [47]

29 October - 1 November 2001
The Fourth Annual Directed Energy Symposium helds "classified sessions at Camber and CSC facilities in Huntsville".
Gerald Wilson, MTHEL Program Manager in SMDC, wins the Best Paper award for his presentation at the 2001 Annual DE Symposium [16]
The event also includes "Beam Control System Design" by Dr. Charles Albers (MEVATEC Corporation) which presents the basics of high energy laser (HEL) beam control/ATP design.
Other panelists include Dr. Thomas Romesser, Vice President & General Manager, Space & Technology Division, TRW Space & Electronics;
Mr. Tom McDonald, Vice President, Laser & Electro Optical Systems, Space & Communications Group, The Boeing Co.;
Mr. Samuel Williams, Chief Scientist, Space Based Laser Programs, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space;
Mr. Mike Booen, Vice President of Directed Energy Weapons, Product Line of Missile Systems, Raytheon Corp;
Dr. Randy Buff, Program Manager SSHCL, USASMDC;
Col Ellen Pawlikowski, Director, ABL SPO (Airborne Laser (ABL) Program);
Col Ivette Falto-Heck, Director, SBL SPO (Space Based Laser (SBL) Program)

30 October 2001
At the DE Symposium Gerald Wilson, Program Manager, MTHEL, USASMDC describes the Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL).

November 07, 2001
Opticsreport describes the goal of Raytheon's "directed energy weapons product line". [22]

December 01, 2001
Opticsreport describes Directed energy weapons "to surpass the speed limitations of bombs and missiles".
Michael Booen, Vice President of Raytheon's Directed Energy Weapons Product Line, indicates that laser energy,
may be the best way to destroy an enemy Scud missile.
"...And, when longevity is factored in, directed energy weapons (DEWs) may be the cheaper solution...."[8]
The article also covers Boeing, GER Corporation, JPL, Lockheed Martin, OpTech Ventures, Ruda and Associates, Inc.,
Sparta, Inc. (ZEUS), Technical Research Associates, Inc., TRW, and Textron Defense Systems.

2002
ZEUS, developed by Bob Bowman's former company General Dynamics, and upgraded at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF)
at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, is requested to be deployed to Afghanistan.
(General John M. Keane, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army 1999-2003)[26]

May 2002
smi-online.co.uk explains that the USA is "investing heavily in directed-energy programmes such as the airborne laser (ABL),
the space-based laser (SBL), tactical high-energy laser (THEL) and directed energy for possible antisatellite (ASAT) missions..." [31]

15 May 2002
RAND reviews Directed-energy weapons, such as space lasers; Kinetic-energy weapons; Space-based kinetic energy weapons
and Space-based conventional weapons.

July 2002
Air Force Directed Energy Research and Development writes that “the Air Force is proud to be the national leader in directed energy research and development.
Our forty years of directed energy investments are paying off in very significant ways..."

2002
XADS is founded, specializing in hand-held directed energy laser devices, among them StunStrike,
SaberShot photonic disruptors or smart Kinetic Resonance Energy Weapons (KREW),
"...to be ready for fielding by early 2006..."

Jul. 21, 2002
TIME Magazine announces "humvee-mounted directed-energy weapons...expected to see it in the field by 2009..." [45]

August 2002
Air Force Print News reports that F-16 pilots are using an F-16
simulator modified to integrate a high energy laser weapon model into an F-16's program.
According to Rudy Martinez, Air Force Research Laboratory directed energy directorate strategic planner,
"the system can also be used to develop tactics and a concept of operations." [55]


November 5, 2002
REUTERS reports that the "U.S. Army used a high-energy laser to shoot down an artillery shell in mid-flight ...in a defense industry breakthrough...
the Army and TRW Inc, which developed the weapon, said in a joint statement that the laser tracked,
locked onto and fired a burst of concentrated light energy photons at the speeding shell over the White Sands test range in New Mexico...
...The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) is being developed by TRW for the Army and the Israeli Defense Ministry..." [54]


Spring 2003
carlisle.army.mil reports that the satellite gap between America and every other nation in the world is universally recognized...
...The United States is even slated to begin testing space-based weapons..
...Over earlier US objections, the European Union is pressing ahead with its Galileo project with the help of Canadian and Russian finance and expertise...
...China is pursuing its own equivalent in the Beidou system....
...directed-energy weapons based on ships or inside wide-bodied aircraft, which may also have the capacity to attack US satellite-based systems...


May 13, 2003
physicsworld.com asks if neutrinos could destroy nuclear weapons:
"...Physicists at the KEK laboratory in Japan and the University of Hawaii have proposed a “futuristic but not necessarily impossible technology”
that would use an ultra-high energy neutrino beam to destroy nuclear weapons..."
Most popular scientist of the KEK had been Professor Steven E. Jones.
...In 1999 the first so-called long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, K2K, involved sending a neutrino beam from KEK to the Superkamiokande detector 250 km away.
There are plans underway to send a neutrino beam from Fermilab to the Soudan lab in Minnesota, 710 km away and from CERN to Gran Sasso in Italy, 730 km away. [59]



2004
Team8+ compiles research about a pre 9/11 LosAlamos/NASA/NGA(NIMA) project, linking an International Mapping-, Zoning- and Imaging Surveillance Project together.
It also links to the Future Combat System though this compilation ignores to ellaborate on any further follow-up info.
The research also refers to the pre 9/11 NASA Google Earth Project (NSA/In-Q-Tel) .

April 2004
Lawrence Livermore demonstrates the "Penetration of a 2.5-centimeter-thick piece of steel in 2 to 7 seconds". [48]

May 2004
Battelle, in 2000 one of the main contractors for Future Combat System, describes "Non-Lethal Directed Energy" in the arsenal of non-lethal weapons,
the VMADS, or Vehicle Mounted Active Denial System, which "offers much promise over the next decade"
and "uses high-powered directed energy that is capable of stopping people and machinery". [13]

August 2, 2004
PrisonPlanet mirrors the article "Pentagon Looks to Directed-Energy Weapons", but decides to ridicule an increased interest into the topic after 2006 with the label "space beams disinfo". [44]


August 09, 2004
Pakistan Dailytimes writes that "Pentagon looks to directed-energy weapons"

September 2004
SAIC completes the DETEC Tri-Service Study at DETEC.
https://detec.saic.com
http://www.detecteam.org/ [3]

January 2005
At the IQPC's Directed Energy Weapons conference in London, Gerald Wilson confirms that his laser system "takes between 5 seconds and 4 minutes (typically 30 seconds) to destroy a mine..."

March 23, 2005
TheHill.com complains that Boeing's Future Combat System is overpriced.
"...During congressional testimony March 16, Claude Bolton assured the
Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee that the Future Combat Systems contract contained a provision requiring Boeing to certify its cost and pricing figures with government contracting agencies..."
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Capitol Hill’s investigative arm, is reviewing the FCS contract. [35]

June 2005
The Joint IED Neutralizer by Ionatron, is using a directed energy discharge to zap IED land mines. The vehicles are officially sent to Iraq.

July 2005
WIRED News releases an article about mobile directed energy weapons incl. Active Denial System and Stunstrike.

July 2005
physorg.com describes a "...pulsed beam that fires 200 times per second, and can already easily burn a hole through an inch of carbon steel in approximately seven second..." [49]

Fall 2005
SAIC reports about their "Directed-Energy Work in Albuquerque":
"...This "high-energy laser" is representative of a directed-energy weapon that could be developed to stop or disable targets hundreds of miles away...
"We currently have two capabilities on contract - Target Reflected Energy Measurement (TREM) and Target Subsystems Protection (TSP). ..."


19-Aug-2005
defenseindustrydaily.com writes about the Air Force Research Laboratory, Human Effectiveness Directorate (AFRL/HEDR) and Directed Energy Bio-effects Division

October 2005
The Weather Modification Operations and Research Board passes - in corporate cooperation with BAE Systems and Raytheon Corporation.[7]


Jan. 11, 2006
MSNBC reports about "directed-energy weapons," "a revolution in military hardware", which includes "such as the Airborne Laser
and the Active Denial System, as well as the Tactical High Energy Laser, or THEL... "
The article also includes a description of the U.S. Army’s Tactical High Energy Laser in White Sands, N.M [14]
It also describes "exciting research areas underway at the Los Alamos National Laboratory: Free-electron laser work with the Navy and a new type of directed energy that operates in the terahertz region...for potential use in the U.S. military’s Future Combat Systems program..."
"...The good news is that directed energy exists. Directed energy is being tested, and within a few years directed energy is going to be deployed upon the battlefield..."


January 2006
Bob Yamamoto from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, gives the latest updates about the "The Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL) Program":
"...the SSHCL achieved 67 kW of average output laser power for short fire durations, which equates to 335 joules/pulse at our 200 Hz pulse repetition rate..." [50]

June 2006
Archbishop Bob Bowman's former company General Dynamics explains their DirEN "Neutralization" System of THOR [25]

2006
Directed Energy Weapons are officially embedded into the Urban Resolve 2015 wargame experiment, led by JFCOM.
It is described as "the largest modeling and simulation system ever built..
UR2015 included more than 2 million individually simulated objects interacting in Baghdad in the year 2015...
...UR2015 brought together dozens of military simulations in a federated architecture.
The Army’s Omni Fusion simulation, which models their Future Combat System, was part of UR2015.
Northern Command will follow the same inclusive, open approach.
Under the architecture, new simulations can be added to increase the system’s overall power.
For example, the system could also predict damage from floods and hurricanes using the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s blast effects model, officials said...."

May 23, 2006
Chinese developer, Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co. Ltd., shows interest to sign a tentative agreement to rent the top five floors of new WTC 7.


September 25, 2006
Rockwell Collins, Inc., one of the main FCS contractors, acquires Anzus, Inc., leading provider of military real-time data exchange.
During June 2001, Anzus, Inc., founded in 1986, was conducting the anti-terror exercise " Amalgam Virgo 01" which includes a picture of Bin Laden in its description.
One of Anzus' most significant navigation systems (JMMTIDS) was developed with the help of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also described in a ewing2001's 2004 article. [24]
The name of Anzus seems to resemble an australian-u.s. treaty.

September 2006
conceptualmindworks.com writes about Research in support of the Directed Energy Bioeffects Division of the Human Effectiveness Directorate.


October 3, 2006
Krauss Maffei Wegman, FCS contractor, announces an alliance with ai-implant.com.
The program will focus on an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software Development Kit (SDK). [43]

Winter 2006
Discovery Channel and MILITARY Channel exploits Future Combat System and Directed Energy Weapons in their popular TV Hit "Future Weapons".

2007
US claims that China has used directed high-energy lasers to interfere with US satellites.
spacedebate.org writes that "China is Developing Anti-Satellite Weapons".
"...after their test of an anti-satellite weapon on January 17, 2007 it can no longer be doubted that China
currently has an active research program to develop and deploy anti-satellite weapons..." [42]


October 20, 2006
Northrop Grumman announces that the US Department of Homeland Security is funding an evaluation
of Northrop Grumman's land-based, counter-MANPADS laser system (Skyguard) with US$1.9 million.

2007
New mainstream reports about Active Denial System, which is mountable on a small armored vehicle (hummer).
It is developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico by researchers working with Raytheon.
Other related directed energy types include HERF cannons, Pulsed Energy Projectiles, THEL (Tactical High Energy Laser) and electrolaser weapons.

2007
Defensetech.org points out that Future Combat System, which integrates Directed Energy Weapons, had its "beginning in 2000". [4]


2007
SAIC describes how it has turned Future Combat System into a consumer game called F2C2:
"... Through gameplay, F2C2 shows how FCS is designed to give the 21st Century Soldier unprecedented situational awareness
and the ability to see first, understand first, act first, and finish decisively..."
It is planned to integrate the NeuroPort™ System, an FDA cleared medical device intended for temporary (< 30 days) recording and monitoring of brain electrical activity.
Neuroport is based on the BrainGate™ Neural Interface System. [37]

April 2007
Textron Systems announces that it has successfully demonstrated the performance of its Future Combat Systems technologies
in military exercises conducted by the U.S. Army in February 2007. [59]

April 23, 2007
Noble Resolve, a series of experiments beginning in Suffolk, Va., is a follow-on to the Urban Resolve experiments JFCOM ran in 2006.
It is reconfirmed that the Air Force experiments with directed energy weapons at the Pentagon during USJFCOM's Urban Resolve. [60]

July 2007
Vice Admiral Robert B. Murrett becomes Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

July 30 2007
Australian News and others ask if "terrorists" are using VM Shooters like Second Life "to plan attacks". [38]


July/August 2007
Technology Review reports that the World Wide Web "will soon be absorbed into the World Wide Sim:
an immersive, 3-D visual environment that combines elements of social virtual worlds such as Second Life and mapping applications such as Google Earth..." [40]

Summer 2007
Sentient World Simulation (SWS), developed by Purdue Institute, is described by mainstream media as a "continuously running,
continually updated mirror model of the real world that can be used to predict and evaluate future events and courses of action..."
Purdue University professor Alok Chaturvedi, co-author of the SWS concept paper:
"...SWS will react to actual events that occur anywhere in the world and in corporate newly sensed data from the real world...
the ability to examine the likely progression of the status-quo as well as explore any "what if" scenarios...
... The key computational components of SWS are: Virtual Execution Environment (VEE), SWS Virtual Model Repository (SVMR), and Dynamic Resolution Manager (DRM)."

2007
9/11 researchers Jim Fetzer, Ace Baker, among many others, continue to ignore the significance of Future Combat System with its integration of Directed Energy Weapons
as potential 'outside job' suspect for the use on the morning of 9/11, also for 9/11 TV Fakery.

2007
The new "FRCHX experiment" is using Shiva Star from the 70s.
A magnetized target fusion, compresses a small plasma load with an imploding metal foil that is accelerated to about 5 km/s.


May 21, 2007
China's new state investment agency is taking a $3 billion stake in U.S. private equity firm The Blackstone Group, part of TRW.
Blackstone has also an affiliated spinoff company, BlackRock, a Caymans Island foreign bank associate,
which officially evaluates the “fairness” to shareholders of the JP Morgan Acquisition of Bear Stearns.
Blackstone was also pushing force behind the 2003 appointment of Timothy F. Geithner to serve as President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
In 2001 Geithner joins the International Monetary Fund IMF.


Summer, 2007
Army Evaluation Task Force, or AETF, formed at Fort Bliss to assess Future Combat Systems.


August 7, 2007
According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the FCS program office has reported that 35 of 46 FCS technologies
have met or surpassed Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6, which means that a system model or prototype has been demonstrated in a relevant environment. [39]

August 14, 2007
Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama, who also suggested to 'nuke Pakistan', recommends as a new target China:
"...China is rising and it's not going away...They're neither our enemy nor our friend. They're competitors..."
...Attention has also been given to Beijing's economic policies and the U.S. trade deficit with China — $232.5 billion last year and expected to grow..."

September 2007 [*added]
Rick Lehner (MDA) confirms in a mainstream radio show the use of DEW since 10 years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p48eaB7ubM

September 5, 2007
NY Post complains that DEW is underreported by MSM. [56]

September 9, 2007
commentarymagazine.com reports that on August 31 the Airborne Laser completed one of its most significant test to date.
A Boeing-747 was rigged up with a low-power laser and used to detect, track,
and then engage a target–in this case, another aircraft.

September 12, 2007
Physicists in the United States announce that they had met a 60-year challenge to create molecules of positronium, a short-lived atom that comprises matter and antimatter.
The achievement may help the development of fusion power as well as directed-energy weapons such as gamma-ray lasers,
but also spur explanations for a long-standing enigma about the Universe, they hope. [57]

September 20-21, 2007
The DEW Conference in Washington, DC is completely ignored by the so called '9/11 Truth Movement' and 'Anti-War Movement'.
Participants are 20 Senior Experts from AFRL, OUSD-AT&L, Joint Staff/J8, NAVY-PMS 405, MDA/AL, ARMY-CMDS, HEL-JTO, CTEIP-OSD, DETEC, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Textron, DRS, Ionatron, AEgis, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Penn State ARL, and Georgia Tech.

October, 2007
AETF begins testing and evaluation of Future Combat System's "Spin out 1," officially 'first set of prototypes'.


Oct. 15, 2007
Boeing confirms yet another successfully demonstration of its Avenger-mounted laser system that can neutralize the kinds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

17 Oct 2007
Dennis Muilenburg, Vice President and Program Manager for FCS, The Boeing Company, speaks at the 5th AIAA Biennial National Forum on Weapon System Effectiveness.
One day later a session includes Directed Energy Weapons chaired by J. ROACH, National Security Space Office (Science Applications International Corporation), McLean, VA, and J. HORKOVICH, Raytheon, Tucson, AZ.

Oct. 29, 2007
CNN Money points out that three major US private equity firms have held preliminary talks about selling a minority stake to China's Social Security Fund: Carlyle, KKR and TPG

15/11/2007
Telegraph UK reports that "US plans new space weapons against China".

December 2007
In opposite to the official timeline of Department of Defense or private military contractors like Boeing and others ,
Washington Post states that Future Combat System officially started in 2003.[8]

December 2007
AviatonNow reports that Northrop Grumman tested a directed energy laser module for the JHPSSL program. [12]
Boeing and Textron Systems also participate in JHPSSL.
"...Northrop Grumman claimed a milestone ..., a full-power test on the first Phase 3 module.
This represents the design to be used in the first eight-laser stack..."


Spring 2008
bloggingstocks.com and Schaeffer's Investment Research point out that defense stocks of General Dynamics,
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L-3 Communications "have enjoyed strong rallies during the past four years".

May 2008
pressmediawire announces that Boeing-SAIC Team, Future Combat Systems Program will play key roles in Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2008.
The recent Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2008 (JEFX 08) wargame conducted by the US Air Forces' Global Cyberspace Integration Center
from April 15-25 demonstrates the collaborative effort of 15 new communications, information warfare initiatives from all military services.
JEFX 08-3 was held simultaneously at the Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and in 10 additional locations across the continental USA.

June 2008
TEST WEEK 2008 includes the latest developments of Directed Energy Weapons.
One of the presenters is Minh Vuong from the SAIC DETEC Program.

June 7 2008
Financial Times reports about the thesis within the 9/11 Truth Movement of Directed Energy Weapons being one of the suspects for the destruction of the Twin Towers. [65]

2015
It is planned that the first brigade combat team equipped with complete Future Combat Systems.

2017
It is planned that U.S. Army goes into full-rate production of Future Combat System.

2030
It is planned that 15 bridages are equipped with complete Future Combat Systems.[10]


+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sources:
(potential broken links please double check at FCS.shortURL.com)

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_Star
[3]http://www.saic.com/news/saicmag/2005-fall/directedenergy.html
Directed Energy Test and Evaluation Capability (DETEC)
Project Director: Minh Vuong
Official Website: https://detec.saic.com
Project Office: PM ITTS Instrumentation Management Office
Project POC Information:
Email: minh.vuong@us.army.mil
Comm: (407) 384-5238
DSN: 970-5238
[4]http://www.defensetech.org/archives/cat_fcs_watch.html
[5]http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/ic/fcs/bia/index.html Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
http://www.boston.com/news/packages/sept11...ne_exercise.htm
[6]http://web.archive.org/web/20060423081706/http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=12498&rsbci=0&fti=112&ti=0&sc=400
[7]http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_Id=248556
[8]http://www.opticsreport.com/content/printable.php?id=1009&command=article
[9]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/06/AR2007120602177_pf.html
Friday, December 7, 2007; 12:00 AM
[10]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/06/AR2007120602177_pf.html
Sources: GAO, Congressional Budget Office, Army, military historians, military contractors.
[11]FCS 2000 Contractors, alphabetically listed

* Aurora Flight Sciences [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Battelle Institute [Team Gladiator (Consortium)], also [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Boeing [The Boeing Team]
* Carnegie Mellon [Team Gladiator (Consortium)]
* CSC/Nichols Research [Team Gladiator (Consortium)]

* General Dynamics Land Systems Inc. [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Honeywell [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* IITRI/AB Technologies[Team Gladiator (Consortium)]
* ITT Industries [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), Germany [The Boeing Team]

* Lockheed Martin [Team Gladiator (Consortium)]
* Logistics Management Institute (LMI) [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* Los Alamos National Laboratory [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Maxwell Physics International [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology [The Boeing Team]

* New Definitions, Inc., Tacoma, WA [The Boeing Team]
* Northrop Grumman Corp [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* Omnitech Robotics International LLS [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* Raytheon Company, Plano, Texas [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Rockwell Science Center, Thousand Oaks, CA [The Boeing Team]

* SAIC [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* Sensis [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Sensor.com Wireless Integrated Network Sensors [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Signature Research, Inc., Calumet, MI [The Boeing Team]
* SRI International [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]

* Stanford Research Institute International [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Sterling Heights [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]
* Strategic Perspectives Inc. [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* TRW [Team Gladiator (Consortium)]
* United Defense, LP [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]

* University of Texas Center for Electromechanics [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* Vector Research, Inc./ERIM, Ann Arbor, MI [The Boeing Team]
* VRI [Team Full Spectrum/SAIC]
* Whitney, Bradley & Brown, Inc., Vienna, VA [The Boeing Team], also [Team FoCus Vision (Consortium,), led by General Dynamics]


[12]http://www.aviationnow.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=dti&id=news/DTILASER.xml&headline=Laser%20Weapons%20Gain%20Momentum
Laser Weapons Gain Momentum
[13] http://www.battelle.org/SPOTLIGHT/tech_forecast/terror.aspx
[14] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10805240/
[15] Hardbound Publisher: Praeger Publishers, New York Date Published: 1979 ISBN-13: 9780030535116 ISBN: 0030535115
[16] Prewitt, Jeffery Lynn. The Deployment of Directed Energy Weapons in Outer Space: An Evolution. Master's Thesis. Appalachian State University, 1982. 114p.
[17] Schroeer, Dietrich. Directed-Energy Weapons and Strategic Defence: A Primer. [Adelphi Papers, No. 221.] London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1987. 69p.
[18] http://www.deps.org/DEPSpages/DEsymp01.html
[19] http://www.spacedaily.com/news/laser-01a.html
[20] http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/te...ser_001127.html
[21] http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/sc19may99_1.htm
http://webfairy.org/nico/4033.htm
[22] http://www.opticsreport.com/content/interv...terview_id=3008
[23] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987snps.symp..351S
"......The SDI electrical power requirements for directed energy weapons (DEW) may range from tens of megawatts to over hundreds of megawatts...."
[24] http://www.rockwellcollins.com/news/page8219.html
http://911closeup.com/nico/globalfreepress...drill_chap6.htm
http://911closeup.com/nico/globalfreepress...drill_chap9.htm
[25] http://www.gd-ots.com/sitepages/inthenews/...006/06Thor.html
see also
http://www.weaponsurvey.com/landmines.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZEUS-HLONS_(H...ization_System)
[26] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZEUS-HLONS_(H...ization_System)
[27] http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/agency/arsmdc.htm
http://helstf-www.wsmr.army.mil/
"..The High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) is the ideal choice to host exploration of future laser technologies. Appointed the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command's (SMDC) "Directed Energy Center for Test and Evaluation,"
[28] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marconi_Electronic_Systems
[29] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Marconi
[30] http://www.smi-online.co.uk/event_media/ov...asp?is=1&ref=85
[31] http://www.smi-online.co.uk/reports/overview.asp?ref=1503
[32] http://www.iwar.org.uk/rma/resources/energ...owthorpe02.html
[33] http://www.spacedaily.com/news/laser-00e.html
[34] http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=2993
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRACL
http://lexingtoninstitute.org/256.shtml
[35] http://911review.org/Sept11Wiki/BlackstoneGroup.shtml
http://www.blackstone.com/news/press_relea...rade_oct_2000...
http://web.archive.org/web/20030407052806/...tone.com/news...
[36] http://thehill.com/business--lobby/misstat...2005-03-23.html
[37] http://www.saic.com/products/simulation/f2c2/
[38] http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/30/are-t...o-plan-attacks/
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22163811-2,00.html
[39] http://www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printve...am/document.cfm
Boeing-Integrated Defense Systems
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/ic/fcs/bia/index.html
General Dynamics
http://www.gdls.com/programs/fcs.html
Science Applications International Corporation
http://www.saic.com/
U.S. Army
http://www.army.mil/fcs/
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Combat_Systems
[40] https://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18888/
[41] http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/iss...cted-Energy.htm
[42] http://www.spacedebate.org/argument/1343
[43] http://www.ai-implant.com/press_room/2006/...acusoft_inc.htm
[44] http://infowars.com/print/ps/directed_energy.htm
[45]http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,...,322588,00.html
[46] Randy Buff http://tinyurl.com/32k94g [cached text version only]
http://www.smdc.army.mil/PubAff/01Eagle/eagle_oct_01.pdf
[47] http://www.smdc.army.mil/pubaff/01Press/HeatLaser.html
[48] http://www.llnl.gov/str/April06/Soules.html
[49] http://www.physorg.com/news4949.html
[50] http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/scv/leos/archiv...abs20061003.htm
[51] http://www.smdc.army.mil/SMDC/About.html
[52] http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/army/docs/astmp98/da_b.htm
[53] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Cosumano
[54] http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-arms-usa-laser.html
[55] http://www.af.mil/news/Aug2002/8080269.shtml
[56] http://www.bloglines.com/blog/ewing2001?id=3964
[57] http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQxT7E...XaygMPdIaLAWWQw
[58] http://www.pr-llc.com/
[59] http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/17490
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3734.html
Neutrino beam could neutralise nuclear bombs
May 14, 2003
[Steven E. Jones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_E._Jones
"...Jones also collaborated in experiments at other physics labs, including TRIUMF (Vancouver, British Columbia), KEK (Tsukuba, Japan), and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Oxford University...." ]
see also video google 'heavy watergate'.
http://www.rmbowman.com/ssn/bio2001.htm
"...Bowman was Manager, Advanced Space Programs at General Dynamics, responsible for the communications spacecraft product line..."
[60] http://www.systems.textron.com/news/2007/04_03_07.htm
[61] http://jya.com/miracl-asat.htm
[62] http://www.sat-net.com/listserver/sat-nd/msg00365.html
see also
the shadow banker system, 9/11 and china - pt1 - 4
From: staticagenda
Added: May 26, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIoRgQLfMnc
[63] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Mineta
http://www.deps.org/DEPSpages/sponsors.html
http://www.physics.buffalo.edu/cerne/reprints/ybco_prl.pdf
http://www.deps.org/DEPSpages/DEMSconf03.html
http://www.deps.org/DEPSpages/EduWksp00.html
http://profjones.com/index.php?p=about
[64] http://www.truveo.com/11-Stalker-TV-Nico-H...RO/id/662938419
[65] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8d66e778-3128-11...?nclick_check=1
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/ewing2001?id=4593

This post has been edited by ewing2001 on Jul 12 2008, 03:42 PM

This is more realistic of the military uses of Direct Energy Weapons and not the Dribble you hear seeping from Judy Wood.

Excellent work Nico!

Thanks for doing this.

This is a very impressive body of research, Nico, and a useful resource.

I remember all the postings you made to 911researchers.com before that site imploded. Looks like this ties it all together.

Fantastic!

FCS now and then

More $$ for NRO/NGA/Boeing's Future Imagery Architecture system:
1 July 2008
http://tinyurl.com/5fp38a

The Pentagon will buy and operate one or two commercial imagery satellites and plans to design and build another with more sophisticated spying capabilities, according to government and private industry officials...
...The Broad Area Space-Based Imagery Collector satellite system, or BASIC, will cost between $2 billion and $4 billion....
...The National Reconnaissance Office ultimately won the right to buy and operate the satellites, besting the Air Force....
...The new satellite system is meant to bridge what intelligence agencies fear will become a gap caused by the cancellation in September 2005 of a major component of the Future Imagery Architecture system overseen by the National Reconnaissance Office. Prime contractor The Boeing Co., headquartered in Chicago, ran into technical problems developing the satellite and spent nearly $10 billion, blowing its budget by $3 billion to $5 billion before the Pentagon pulled the plug, according to industry experts and government reports....

...It will increase the amount of imagery the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency buys from commercial satellite companies GeoEye of Dulles, Va., and DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., which are expected to put four new satellites into orbit by 2013.

Compare:
18 March 2001
http://tinyurl.com/5vbrss

Sunday, March 18, 2001

Massive Spy-Satellite Program to Cost Billions

Aerospace: Southland firms will get a major boost from top-secret, two-decade effort. Its scope could dwarf the Manhattan Project.

By PETER PAE, Times Staff Writer

A team of Southern California aerospace companies is covertly recruiting engineers across the country for a new generation of spy satellites under what analysts believe is the largest intelligence-related contract ever.

The supersecret project for the National Reconnaissance Office is estimated to be worth up to $25 billion over two decades, providing a major boost to the Southland's aerospace industry and solidifying the area's dominance of high-tech space research.

Equipped with powerful telescopes and radar, the nation's newest eye in space is expected to form the backbone of U.S. intelligence for several decades, analysts said. The satellites will be farther out in space and harder to detect than the massive spy probes that currently orbit the Earth. They will also be able to fly over and take pictures of military compounds anywhere in the world, in darkness or through cloud cover, with far more frequency.

Company officials are restricted from talking about the highly classified contract, but Roger Roberts, general manager of the Boeing Co. unit in Seal Beach overseeing the project, gave a hint of its scope.

The endeavor will require 5,000 engineers, technicians and computer programmers over the next five years, and that will just be for the initial design and development of the satellites, he said.

That figure doesn't include thousands more who will be required to assemble the satellites, most likely at Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, and thousands of workers employed by hundreds of subcontractors and parts suppliers such as the 1,900-employee Marconi Integrated Systems in San Diego. Sending the satellites into space will also require new rockets, which should also bolster the launch industry.

The need for engineers has been so great that two months ago Boeing opened a recruitment office in Sunnyvale, where it is targeting both dot-com survivors and Lockheed Martin Corp. engineers who built many of the spy satellites now in orbit. After dominating that business since the 1950s, Lockheed lost the new contract to Boeing.

John Pike, a Washington, D.C.-based military space consultant, believes that in all, the work could eventually mean jobs for at least 20,000 people in California...


...The project is officially known as Future Imagery Architecture.

Despite slowly opening itself up in recent years, the NRO still remains one of the most secretive government agencies. Even its innocuous logo--a space probe circling the globe--was a secret until 1994.

Besides saying it awarded the contract to Boeing "to develop, provide launch integration and operate the nation's next generation of imagery reconnaissance satellites," not much else has been revealed.

Virtually everything else about the contract--its dollar amount, the number of satellites to be built, who is doing what and where, and the capabilities of the satellite--is secret. Even the duration of the contract is deemed classified.

"This program is so secret that most of the people who work on it won't have a good sense of what they are doing," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Arlington, Va.-based Lexington Institute...

"...I can tell you that we plan to begin launching [the satellites] around . . . 2005," said spokesman Art Haubold. "It's a multiyear effort that will provide a more capable but less costly means of filling the nation's imaging needs."

He declined to specify the value of the contract, although he said, "We're talking about a big part of our business. That's all I can say."

Boeing and other contractors--which would normally gloat--aren't talking, other than to confirm that they are part of the winning team. Besides Boeing, which will oversee the contract and build the satellites, the other main companies include Raytheon Corp., Eastman Kodak Co. and Harris Corp. Analysts believe that Aerospace Corp., a government-funded research operation in El Segundo, drew up the blueprints for the new satellites.

...Meanwhile, Rochester, N.Y.-based Eastman Kodak is working on processing the images captured by the satellites. The role of Harris Corp., a Florida-based maker of telecommunications components and provider of support services to the Defense Department, is unclear.

"I can only confirm that we are a contractor," said Mark Day, a spokesman for Raytheon's Electronic Systems unit in El Segundo. Raytheon and Boeing's operations in El Segundo both trace their origins to the former Hughes Aircraft Co., a longtime handler of top-secret programs during the Cold War.

The NRO, created in 1960 to build and operate spy satellites, has an annual budget of at least $6 billion, exceeding yearly spending of either the Central Intelligence Agency or the National Security Agency.

Pike estimates that the new contract accounts for about $1 billion of the annual budget and has a lifetime of at least 20 years. After factoring in about $5 billion for design and development, he believes the total worth of the contract to be as much as $25 billion, which includes building the satellites and maintaining them. In comparison, the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, which at one time employed as many as 125,000 people, cost the U.S. $20 billion after adjustment for inflation.

The NRO program "will be the most expensive program in the history of the intelligence community," the Federation of American Scientists recently concluded.

Much of that expense will be incurred in the South Bay, an area represented by Rep. Jane Harman (D-Rolling Hills), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which last week received a classified briefing about the project from the NRO.

"I used to say that the area was the aerospace center of the world," Harman said. "I would now say it is the center of the world for space-based intelligence."

Since the 1950s, U.S. spy satellites had mostly been designed and built in Northern California at Lockheed Martin's massive 275-acre Sunnyvale facility, which during its heyday employed more than 30,000 people.

It was in Sunnyvale that the first spy satellites, known as Corona, were built. Although it made its last flight in 1972, the project's existence was revealed and declassified only by a special order of President Bill Clinton about 25 years later.

Declassified documents say the NRO launched 145 Corona satellites, each of which flew a few days at a time taking photographs with six- to 10-foot resolutions, compared with resolution of approximately six inches on current satellites.

Instead of transmitting the images to Earth, Corona capsules were allowed to free-fall and be snatched up in midair by a C-119 Flying Boxcar, often after several attempts. The capsules usually contained hundreds of pounds of film.

In late 1999, the NRO stunned the industry and awarded the contract to build the next generation of spy satellites to a Boeing-led team. The competition, which took three years, was considered among the fiercest in recent memory, analysts said.

"I wish I can tell you how we won the contract. It's a story worth telling your grandchildren," said James Albaugh, president of Boeing's space and communications business.

In aerospace, Boeing's coup was considered a huge turning point that reflected a shift in fortunes of the world's top two defense contractors. Lockheed shares fell for weeks after the news was made public. "This was the most serious loss for Lockheed in a decade," Thompson said. "This was a core business for Lockheed for decades. It was a large part of the reason why Sunnyvale existed at all."

The aftermath is visible at Lockheed's Sunnyvale facility; the massive structure in which the first spy satellite took shape was recently torn down for an Internet firm. Nearby, Boeing opened a recruiting office to handle hundreds of applications weekly from Lockheed engineers drawn by a newspaper ad.

"Stars. Sunsets. Satellites. Southern California has it all," it said, somewhat boastfully.

Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times

This post has been edited by ewing2001 on Jul 2 2008, 11:12 AM

New MSM Claim about alleged "first tests" of Laser Weapons contradict earlier reports

Laser Gunship Fires; 'Deniable' Strikes Ahead?
By David Hambling
August 13, 2008
| 1:02:00 PMCategories: Bizarro, Lasers and Ray Guns, Less-lethal
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/will...mment-126797238



Boeing announced today the first ever test firing of a real-life ray gun that could become US special forces' way to carry out covert strikes with "plausible deniability..."

...The Advanced Tactical Laser, weighing twelve thousand pounds and mounted in a Hercules transport plane, is intended to give Special Forces Command "ultra-precision strike capability" against a wide range of ground targets. Its power is somewhere in the hundred-kilowatt range...

...Precision engagement of a PID [Positively Identified] insurgent by a DEW [Directed Energy Weapon] will be a highly surgical and impressively violent event...

This post has been edited by ewing2001 on Aug 17 2008, 03:19 PM

Advanced Laser Weapons described by Northrop Grumman as "Success"

picked up at Greg Nixon's http://dailydoseofterror.blogspot.com/

http://tinyurl.com/6fx7w2
http://tinyurl.com/6c2je9
http://tinyurl.com/5le2d7

(see also
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=U...HPSSL+EWING2001

Northrop Grumman Expands Commercial Marine Service Operations in China
http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/n...s.html?d=142541
May 12, 2008

Book says China involved in 9-11 attacks
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25680
China’s Military Planners Took Credit for 9/11
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articl...24/143618.shtml
The authors of "Unrestricted Warfare” are Senior Cols. Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, and in 1999 they wrote that an attack by bin Laden on the World Trade Center would be just the type of "unrestricted warfare” that could bring down America. ...


China's involvement in September 11
http://www.skepticforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&p=134335
Thu Aug 28, 2008

Russia-Georgia War Highlights Need for Directed-Energy Defenses
Aug 19, 2008
http://www.heritage.org/Research/nationalSecurity/wm2030.cfm

Chinese Lasers and U.S. Satellites | Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_weapons_and_...ers-and-us.html

Uighur leader says China fabricated terror plots
Posted: 11 March 2008
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp.../334133/1/.html )


http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nort...7819}&dist=hppr

Northrop Grumman Scores Biggest Successes Yet for Solid-State Laser Weapon Production by Industry

Last update: 8:00 a.m. EDT Sept. 2, 2008
REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Sep 2, 2008 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC)

NOC has set new industry records in all aspects of high-power solid-state laser production, demonstrating the readiness of these compact, portable, speed-of-light weapons to take their place on the battlefield.
The company demonstrated the third critical milestone for the U.S. military's Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program, Phase 3. Operating from Northrop Grumman's one-of-a-kind laser factory, the system:

-- Raised its demonstrated lethality by precisely combining two
laser chains to produce record power -- 30 kW -- in an excellent
beam-beam quality of 2.1 times the theoretical limit
-- Operated at this performance level for more than five minutes
continuously and more than 40 minutes total; and
-- Achieved electrical-to-optical efficiency of greater than 19
percent.


http://dailydoseofterror.blogspot.com/2008...rs-russian.html
Northrop in electric blaster cannon milestone (update)

US war-tech behemoth Northrop Grumman announced yesterday that it had achieved another milestone in its battlefield raygun programme - ahead of schedule. Company blaster cannon execs believe that the first tests at combat power - 100 kilowatts - will take place as planned by the end of this year.Eight of these, and it's time to fry
Northrop's Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) programme for the US forces is different from existing rayguns, as it uses electrically powered solid state equipment.

Older efforts such as the famous nuke-nobbling jumbo jet (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/29/boeing_chuffed_with_abl_tests/) for the Missile Defence people and the silent, deniable flying sniper gunship (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/19/laser_gunship_lights_up/) for the US special forces use chemical lasers instead.

This post has been edited by ewing2001 on Sep 4 2008, 03:04 AM

SAIC to support Naval Health Research Center
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/33429-1.html

"The contractor will also perform research in submarine and aerospace medical effects, environmental health and directed energy bioeffects – capturing and quantifying the biological effects of directed energy weapons in order to develop nonlethal defensive weaponry."

http://dailydoseofterror.blogspot.com/

This post has been edited by NXNGRG on Sep 4 2008, 03:27 PM