Boeing missile flies over buildings, fries computers with microwaves

GeekWire
January 14, 2013

This is stuff you only see in the movies.

“Today, we made science fiction science fact,” says Keith Coleman, CHAMP Program Manager forBoeing Phantom Works, in the video above.

And he’s right. In what could potentially change modern day warfare, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force successfully tested the Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP). The missile’s primary purpose is to disable computers and other electronics from a distance, using microwaves.

Last Tuesday over the Western Utah desert, the test was directed by a Boeing Phantom Works team, along with members from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate team, and Raytheon Ktech, suppliers of the High Power Microwave source.

The pre-programmed CHAMP missile flew over its first target and shot out a burst of High Power Microwaves at a two story building, successfully knocking out rows of personal computers and electrical systems in the building. The missile ended up hitting all seven of its targets in what the company described as a highly-successful test.

It’s groundbreaking in the sense that there is now a legitimate non-lethal weapon that can defeat electronic targets without collateral damage.

“In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive,” Coleman said in a press release.

Article was originally posted at Geek Wire on October 23, 2012