2. INTRODUCTION
The Counter-electronics High Power Microwave
Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) is a joint
concept technology demonstration led by the Air Force
Research Laboratory, Directed Energy Directorate
at Kirtland Air Force Base to develop an air-
launched directed-energy weapon capable of
incapacitating or damaging electronic systems.
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4. TEST
On October 22, 2012, Boeing announced
a successful test of the missile.
CHAMP took out seven different targets
before self-destructing over empty
desert.
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8. PROGRESS
The U.S. Air Force expects to have technology for a steerable
counter-electronics weapon “available” in 2016, when a multi-shot,
multi-target, high-power microwave (HPM) package will be tested
aboard an AGM-86 ALCM.
By the mid-2020s, HPM weapons are expected to be integrated
onto a "JASSM-ER-type weapon," and on small reusable platforms
like the F-35 Lightning II and unmanned aerial vehicles.
HPM weapons are not yet a program of record, but they are
desired in situations where one target building needs to be
engaged and shut down, while not affecting the buildings around it.
Other potential improvements could include increasing autonomy
and putting it on hypersonic missiles.
