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High Energy Laser Systems
The White Sands Missile Range High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) was established to support the test
and evaluation of high energy laser systems, subsystems and components, and to support the conduct of damage and
vulnerability tests on materials, components, subsystems and systems.
Background
During the 1970s, the need became apparent for a test site to support the Department of Defense's (DoD) continued
development of lasers as weapon systems. Several test ranges were considered, with White Sands being selected as the site
and the resulting facility being known as HELSTF.
The first principal user of the facility was to have been the Navy SEALITE program, a self-defense lethality demonstration
using the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL). Congress canceled the SEALITE program in the fall of 1983
and directed the MIRACL be installed at HELSTF to support a variety of tests for DoD.
HELSTF also houses the Excimer Raman-Shifted Laser Device (EMRLD), a smaller device developed by the Air Force. The
site will serve as the home base for the Army's Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System (PLVTS), as well as other lasers to
support the Army's tactical and strategic systems development.
HELSTF represents an approximate $800 million investment, with about $80 million of that in military construction funds.
HELSTF became operational on September 6, 1985 when the Air Force conducted the first Lethality and Target Hardening
(LTH-l) program test for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO). Since then HELSTF has provided test
support to DoD, industry and foreign governments under appropriate agreements.
Management
The Secretary of the Army directed the transfer of HELSTF management to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Command
(SMDC) by October 1, 1990. Prior to that, the facility was under the command of Commander, White Sands Missile Range.
Management of HELSTF by SMDC will allow for expansion of the HELSTF mission to support Army and DoD research
and development efforts, as well as retain its capabilities for performing test and evaluation support.
Primary support for operation and maintenance of the SMDC-managed facility is currently provided by Lockheed
Engineering and Science Company (LESC). The Navy is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the MIRACL and
the SEALITE Beam Director through its contractors, TRW and Hughes Aircraft. The EMRLD device is the management
responsibility of the Air Force.
Facilities
Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser
The MIRACL was built by TRW for the Navy to show that linear cavity chemical laser technology could be scaled to
multi-megawatt power levels. The device is a continuous wave (CW) deuterium fluoride (DF) chemical laser which operates
at a wavelength of 3.8 microns. Its continuous power output is the highest yet achieved by any U.S. laser.
The laser is basically an exotic rocket engine composed of individual module assemblies each having many nozzle blades.
The modules are fed from an upstream combustion chamber and are designed to produce an optically uniform downstream
flow field as a lasing medium. A gaseous oxidizer is reacted with a fuel mixture and ignited in the combustor to produce
fluorine. Deuterium is injected into the flow to chemically combine with the fluorine atoms and produce the required
population of excited DF molecules upon which lasing is based.
SEALITE Beam Director
The SEALITE Beam Director (SLBD) is a high precision pointer-tracker system built for the Navy by Hughes Aircraft
Company. It is designed to accept the MIRACL beam and focus it onto a specific point on a flying target. The beam director
consists of a servo control system, an elaborate optical system and a computer controller. The servo system contains
numerous electronic control loops, a large coarse gimbal structure, a tracking sensor and a stabilized inertial reference
platform.
High Energy Laser Experimental Test System
The MIRACL, when operated with the beam director, comprises the High Energy Laser Experimental Test System
(HELETS). The Low-Power and High-Power Dynamic Test series were completed in 1988. These series characterized the
HELETS total optical quality, power on target and dynamic pointing stability.
Beam Transfer Area
The beam Transfer Area (BTA), essentially a laser beam switch yard, allows HELSTF to move the MIRACL beam to a
variety of indoor and down range test sites. The BTA is used instead of the HELETS for damage and vulnerability testing.
Inside the BTA are two fast shutters capable of turning the MIRACL's continuous wave beam on and off within five
milliseconds. The shutters work in conjunction with the facility's target cassette indexer and down-range mirrors to provide
precise laser beam exposures to test materials. Switch mirrors in the BTA allow testing both inside and down range during a
single test run.
Effects Test Area
The Effects Test Area (ETA) is an indoor laboratory used for testing damage and vulnerability of materials and systems. The
ETA consists of a target cassette indexer, laser optics and test instrumentation.
The target cassette indexer inserts the samples into the beam path as the fast shutters turn the beam on and off. It is capable
of handling up to 60 samples, each 10-inch by 10-inch by 2.5-inch, or 30 samples, each 10 inch by l0-inch by 5-inch.
The TMHS is equipped with a side wall wind tunnel capable of providing a variety of gas flows and speeds across the target
surface. Gases which can be used are air, nitrogen and other inert gases.
Down-Range Facilities
Located down range is Test Cell B or the hazardous test site. This test site uses a slewable, high-power optical train to
irradiate various targets on the test pad. The MIRACL beam is sent to Test Cell B via optics in the BTA. Tests demonstrated
the ability to irradiate more than 45 target samples during a single run. New Test Cell a optics provide better beam quality
and fewer beam distortions, as well as faster beam slewing and scanning. For explosive targets, Test Cell B is rated for the
equivalent of 20,000 pounds of TNT. Other down-range test sites include a two kilometer test site and a moving target test
track.
Large Vacuum Chamber
A 50-foot diameter Large Vacuum Chamber (LVC) was completed in October 1988. The LVC is designed to accept
materials up to half the size of the space shuttle bay and produce vacuums equivalent to 300,000 feet in altitude.
What makes the HELSTF LVC unique is the Pressure Staging Assembly Facility (PSAF) which allows transporting the
MIRACL beam from atmospheric pressures to the LVC extreme vacuums via a special Zinc Selinide material window.
Currently this material window has performance limitations that restrict the run time of the laser through the window. A new
window is being developed which should not restrict the laser run time.
Test Instrumentation
Available at all HELSTF test sites is a wide variety of diagnostic and test instrumentation, plus motion picture, fixed camera
and video camera support. The High Energy Laser Data Acquisition and Processing System (HELDAPS) acquires the data
provided by the instrumentation and processes it into the form required by the tester. Data is normally provided to the user in
12- and 24-hour packages after each test.
Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System
The Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System (PLVTS) is a transportable Army system that will use a threat surrogate laser
device to test the vulnerability and susceptibility of U.S. tactical systems to expected tactical battlefield directed energy
threats. The system was developed by Rockwell Power System for the Army. Although transportable, PLVTS is housed at
Test Cell 3 when at HELSTF.
Army.mil