Validation of directed energy laser simulation and evaluation of HEL weapon thermal impacts on UAV with MuSES

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

10-29-2025

Abstract

Directed energy laser weapons are becoming more common on the global battlefield, with an increasing prevalence of both Earth-based and space-based platforms expected in the future. The thermal impact of these HEL weapons can be significant and understanding the potential for thermally-induced physical damage as a function of laser power, beam focus and dwell time is critical to mission planning. Testing is understood to be the standard for ground truth in this regard, and perhaps cannot be avoided completely, but laboratory and (especially) field testing can be difficult to depend on entirely. This is particularly true when the object of interest is an uncooperative or adversarial target in a challenging environment (such as a fast-moving airborne asset in a turbulent atmosphere). The use of transient thermal prediction software is motivated by the need to perform scientific studies where variables such as laser power, beam profile, dwell time on target and atmospheric effects can be controlled. Additionally, the effectiveness of possible survivability countermeasures can be evaluated virtually by computing the reduction in thermal impact due to a particular design/scenario change. In this paper we validate transient thermal simulations of several metals undergoing heating from a high power laser source against previously-published laboratory test data. We report thermal predictions that closely match the published test data based on the published material properties and boundary conditions. Subsequently, we demonstrate a methodology for simulating the thermal impact of a HEL weapon on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in flight. We detail how critical factors such as laser power level, beam profile and dwell time can be included in such a study. We report DE-induced, scenario-dependent temperature rise and explore a representative countermeasure design to demonstrate efficacy evaluation. Finally, we suggest how the incorporation of atmospheric effects into the transient simulation could be accomplished.

Publication Title

Proceedings of SPIE the International Society for Optical Engineering

ISBN

[9781510692893]

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