Raytheon Co. is helping transform US war fighting capabilities by delivering a short-range millimeter-wave directed energy non-lethal weapon to the Department of Defense’s Full Spectrum Effects Platform (FSEP) program — also known as Project Sheriff — for the Office of Force Transformation (OFT). OFT, in partnership with the US Army’s Futures Center and the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), is developing an operational prototype to provide forces fighting in complex urban environments with new options and a combination of lethal and non-lethal capabilities in responding to threats. By developing an operational package of vehicles that can be quickly outfitted and deployed in active operations, OFT will provide combat forces the opportunity to more quickly test tactics, techniques and procedures for new urban combat capabilities. Applying streamlined processes and rapid prototyping tools to meet OFT’s transformational rapid reaction goals, Raytheon Missile Systems designed, developed, fabricated and delivered the combat-hardened, non-lethal system for Sheriff in less than six months. An integrated Raytheon product team instituted innovative parallel scheduling in delivering the product on time and on budget successfully, while still adhering to a thorough quality review process. The breakthrough non-lethal capability Raytheon has delivered to FSEP will stop, delay, deter and turn back an adversary. It is intended to save lives by reducing unnecessary casualties and collateral injuries. It brings new operational flexibility and speed of light weapons to the war fighter. In the compressed urban environment, discriminating threats from non-threats is difficult and can require split second scalable response. The millimeter-wave energy beam can help discriminate the threat and assess the intent of an aggressor with a temporary reversible effect whose safety has been established and demonstrated in more than 12 years of testing by the Air Force Research Laboratory with sponsorship from the Joint Non-lethal Weapons Directorate. Raytheon is currently assisting NSWC with the integration of the short-range non-lethal system into a Stryker combat vehicle. Vehicle testing will take place at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA; Quantico, VA; and Yuma Proving Grounds, AZ, before the system is turned over to officials at the Infantry Center at Ft. Benning, GA.
