US Army Edgewood Arsenal report: Unconventional Weapons for

223 Pages·2012·26.41 MB·English

Description of document: US Army Edgewood Arsenal report:
Unconventional Weapons for the 1970 Battlefield,
July 1964

Requested date: 25-January-2005

Released date: 09-July-2012

Posted date: 16-July-2012

Source of document: Department of The Army
US Army Research, Development and Engineering
Command
Attn: Freedom of Information Act Office
5183 Blackhawk Road
Aberdeen Proving Ground MD 21010-5424

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DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
U.S. ARMY RESEARCH~ DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING COMMAND
3071 ABERDEEN BOULEVARD
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND 21005-5201
R£PLYTO
ATT£NTIONOF July__!_, 2012
Office of the Chief Counsel
This is the final response to your FOIA request dated January 25, 2005 and received by this
office on March 6, 2012, from the Depat1ment of De tense Office of Freedom of Information. We
assigned your request RDECOM FOIA Tracking# FA-12-0087. You requested a copy DTIC Report
AD 8211633, Unconventional Weaponsfor the 1970 Battlefield.
We determined the records contain information exempt from disclosure pursuant to Title 5
U.S.C. § 552(b)(6) ("Exetnption 6"). Exemption 6 and Department of Defense policy protect Army
personnel from an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. We removed the names, phone numbers,
and email addresses of personnel who are not general officers, are not division chiefs, who do not
normally work with the general public, or who are not federal employees. All redactions made to the
enclosed documents were made pursuant to FOIA Exemption 6.
Ifyou find this response to be an adverse action~ you may appeal to the Secretary of the Army.
General Ann E. Dunwoody, Commanding General, U.S. Army l'vlateriel Command, is the Initial Denial
Authority and by position, I have been delegated as an Initial Denial Authority. You should send your
appeal to this office, and in turn, we will forward it to the Army General Counsel, the designated Army
Freedom of Information Act appellate authority. ·ro meet the deadline for appeal, the appeal letter must
be received by this office and forwarded to the Secretary of the Army within sixty (60) days ofthe date
of this letter. Please send correspondence to the following address:
Brian A. rviay
RDECOM, ATTN AJviSRD-CCF
4305 Susquehanna Avenue
Room 336
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21 0 10 -500 1
FOIA processing fees were not assessed. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding
the processing of your request, please contact Mr. Brian May at ( 41 0) 43 6-2289 or
brian.a.mav3 .civ@mai I. mil.
Enclosures
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UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPONS FOR THE
:!.970 BATTLEFIELD
~
C.t'A l!ODi. .
-
I
LIMITED TO DOD RESEARCH ONLY
19960625 042
-M
MELPAR ·~·
~-::~ INC
'
A SUBSIDIARY OF WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE COMPANY
3000 ARLINGTON BOULEVARD FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
"OTIC USERS ONLY"
<PA - c r (/ -,2 CG ~
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'
UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPONS FOR THE
1.970 BATTLEF+ELD
~
I
-'lH'.A Con1a ...U. 4 ~: ~-;L-U-Q--~ ..I
.
Melpar, Inc. · ·
3000 Arlington.Boulevard
Falls Church, :Virginia
July 1964
(P443 .. 0l4 30)
·.
THIS DOCUMENT ·I·S . BEST
QUALITY AVAILABLE. THE
COPY FURNISHED ·. TO DTIC ·
. CONTAINED A SIGNIFICANT .
NUMBER OF PAGES WHICH DO
NOT REPRODUCE LEGIBLY.
,
-- ;
...
- United States Army
.. . .,. . ~ EDGEWOOD ARSENAL "' · • --.
·-
"z-
Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland 21010
IN REPLY REFER TO:
SMUEA-CM-Wll - 4 DEC 1964
SUBJECT: Melpar, Inc. Report - Unconventional Weapons for the 1970
Battlefield
r
TO: Director
Advanced Research Projects Agency
Office of the Secretary of Defense
ATTN: Project .AGn..E (Mr. Edwards)
Washington, D. C.
1. A copy of this report is included as Inclosure 1. It is
in response to your telephone request to (b)(6)
bein~sent
IIGII0(II of this Division on 2 De~~mber 1964. The report need not
be returned. -·
2. This report resulted from a joint ~ffort by Melpar, Inc.
and USA Chemical Research and Development Laborat ories, a subordinate
.elemerit of USA Edgewood Arsenal. We request your consideration of
our capabilities if Advanced Research Projects Agency elects to fund
for further work in the areas contained in this report. -
FOR THE
l Incl
as
Directorate of Commodity Management
~
- ... 1.1.:19!1
·; .. illl Con'L ~(h, __...;__:..::..,.~---..::·
I
TABLE OF CONTENrS
Page
~
1. INTROWc-I'ION 4
I 2. MELPAR 'S R&D STUDIES RElATED TO BATI'LEFJELD WEAPONS 6
~
2.1 Optics 6
I
2.1.1 Scotomatic Glare 6
2.1.2 High Intensity Light Sources "7
2.1.2".1 .Microwave Enhanced Sources 7
2.1.2.2 Xenon Arc Searchlights 8
2.1.3 Flash Blindness Protection ·10
2.1.4 Modulated Pulsed Light 13
.2.1.5 Eidetic Visual Memory 16
2.2 Acoustics 19
2.3 Biological ·22
2.3.1 Biological Effects of RF Radiation 22
2.3.2 Particle Radiation Programs •'23
2.4 Plasma Physics 25
2.4.1 Ball Lightning 25
2.5 lasers 28
3· SUGGESTED WEAPONS RESEARCH AREAS 31
3.1 Kugelblitz Theoretical Study 31
·3.2 Visual Excitation 32
3.3 Scotomatic Glare Weapon 33
3-l~ Lethal Laser Weapon 35
3-5 Acoustic Weapon 37
3.6 Concentrated Energy Transmission for Field 38
Conflagration
2
TABlE OF CONTENTS (Cont 'd.)
Page
4. PERSONNEL 40
4.1 Company Personnel 40
4.2 Outside Consultants 61
5· BIBLIOGRAPHY 63
6. FACILITIES 68
6.1 Melpar, Inc. 68
6.2 Applicable Research Division Facilities 82
APPENDICES
A Dazzling by Lasers and High Intensity Light Sources A-1
B Review of Research on Bright ·Light Sources B-1
c Modulated Light Studies C-1
D Eidetic Visual Memory D-1
Estimates for High Sound Field Levels E-1
Details of a Kugelblitz Theory F-1
Laser Guidance of Fireballs G-1
H High Power Ruby Laser Systems· H-1
3
UNCONVENTIONAL BA.TrLEFIELD WEAPONS
1. -INTRODUCTION
Melpar, Inc. has included in the following _a .summary of its
background and capabilities in the area of new and unconventional
weapons for the -1970 battlefield. The company has directed a significant
.portion its research and development during the last two years in
~f
theoretical and experimental investigations related to -weapon concepts
for design criteria leading to future operational battlefield conditions.
The purpose of the various studies ·has been to bring the advanced state
of the art technique to practical utilization for future ground forces
weapons. Specific areas of investigations and the scope of recommended
future programs ·are contained in this report.
The breadth of research of Melpar's technical staff which is
associated with unconventional battlefield weapons is -illustrated in Table 1.
The major investigations have included optical, _acoustic, biological, plasma,
and laser personnel and facilities. Some general informative .discussion is
given in the immediate following pages to assist in defining the purpose and
general results of various facets of the program. In the Appendices more
technical reports :and data are offered to indicate -the depth of some of the
individual studies. Within the bounds of known physical principles, several
.promising weapon concepts worthy of continued research and development study
are delineated. They range from the well defined scotomatic glare ·weapon to
the futuristic kugelblitz weaponj in sophistication they can include the
subtle -alpha rhythm incapacitating weapon .and the powerful lethal laser
weapon. Such a vista of potentialities indicates a likelihood of signifi
cant supplements to the Army's ·weapons arsenal by -1970.
4
- - - - - -
TAlllE I
Melpar R&D Studies Related to Battlefield Weapons
ACOUSTICS BIOLOGICAL PIASMA IASERS
Scotomatic Glare Ultrasonics Biological Effects Electro Magnetic Giant Pulse
or RF Radiation and
High Intensity Son ics Hydromagnetic
Light Source Particle Radiation Interactions
Psycho-Acoustics
Flash Blindness
Protection
Modulated Pulsed
Light
Eidetic Visual
Memory