AFRL Holds Directed Energy, Kinetic Energy Exercise

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory hosted a collaborative exercise at Kirtland Air Force Base to test directed energy capabilities.

The Directed Energy and Kinetic Energy Directed Energy Utility Concept Experiment was performed by AFRL’s Directed Energy and Munitions directorates. It was focused on exploring how directed energy and kinetic weapons solutions would work together in future battlefields.

Pilots, weapon systems officers and air battle managers trained together in different virtual environments and explored different mission sets that focused on the use of both kinetic and directed energy platforms. Specifically, personnel used previous studies and analyses that are focused on an airborne high-energy laser pod and two future kinetic weapon concepts, USAF said.

AFRL demonstrators used the Weapons Engagement Optimizer, an artificial intelligence-based battle management system. It performs data systems analysis to support decision-making by warfighters and senior leaders.

Darl Lewis, wargaming principal investigator and the lead official of DEKE DEUCE, said there is a need to field next-generation weapons to stay ahead of adversaries. According to Lewis, DEKE DEUCE looks at the different DE and KE capabilities, future tactics and procedures and ways to seal integration gaps.

The official also shared that through the exercise, senior AFRL leaders will be able to know more about how next-generation technologies will work with each other.

Rusty Coleman, the technical adviser for the modeling and simulation team at the AFRL Munitions Directorate, said the exercise allowed his team to see new concepts. He added that pilots who participated in the event also provided new feedback.

George Foster, a distinguished engineer for combat control at the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, said the exercise allowed participating Navy members to integrate the Elektra battle manager with WOPR. The activity also allowed Navy personnel to share their ideas to allow both military services to integrate their capabilities as needed.