FIRE AND BRIMSTONE

India has developed and inducted top-secret Directed Energy Weapons, a military technology of game-changing potential

- SANJIB KR BARUAH

It could have been the veritable storm in a teacup. Or, perhaps, it was an acknowledgement of the induction of disruptive military technology of game-changing proportions. On March 21, speaking at a public event in Delhi, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhuri said India had tested and deployed Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs) and hypersonic weapons. For the assembled defence journalists and members of the strategic community, it came as a big surprise. But soon came the clarification from IAF sources: the chief was just pointing out that such weapons had been “tested and employed” by many countries, and not particularly by India.

THE WEEK has, however, learnt that DEWs are now very much part of India’s elaborate security architecture, although there has been no official declaration to this effect. DEWs refer to weapon systems that direct devastating lethal force generated by concentrated laser, microwaves or particle beams onto a target at a great speed. DEWs have many key advantages over conventional weapons. There is unmatched accuracy, low cost per shot, logistical benefits and low detectability, besides the lightning speed at which the death rays hit the target. But most significantly, DEWs seem to be the sole answer to the virtually ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic missiles.

DEWs are believed to have been first used by the Greeks in 212 BCE when scientist-philosopher Archimedes defended the city of Syracuse by re-directing sunlight with the help of curved polished mirrors. The sunbeams blinded the invading Romans and set the sails of their galleys afire.