Zeus-HLONS Deployed in Middle East
Devin Martin
Issue date: 2/11/09 Section: News
Traditionally, Army engineers have always met the challenge when dealing with unexploded ordinance (UXO) like land mines or forgotten missiles. These problems were solved with the best solution at the time: blow it up with something else. Exploding or disarming UXO was a task that often led to the death of the engineer doing it.
However, Army researchers, with the help of Alabama contractor SPARTA, Inc., have developed a 2-kilowatt solid-state laser that mounts onto a heavily-armored Humvee. Called the Zeus-HLONS (for Humvee Laser Ordinance Neutralization System), this laser system eliminates both the proximity and high explosive dangers that Army engineers fought in the past. The Zeus-HLONS has an effective standoff operational distance of 300 meters, which puts engineers well out of the blast radius of the ordinance.
More remarkable, however, is the explosion itself. As most UXO are designed for the destruction of armored vehicles, disarming or otherwise destroying them will result in a high order/high explosive blast, using all of its destructive power. Zeus-HLONS negates this effect with the laser. The HLONS laser gives engineers the ability to heat the casing and drill a hole straight into the ordnance itself, which releases the gas. The heat from the laser causes the inner ordinance to detonate; the gas release, however, causes the pressure that would result in a high order explosion to just fissure out. This results in a largely mitigated explosion of a lethal ordinance weapon or trap.
When early models of the Zeus-HLONS deployed to Afghanistan in 2004, they earned a 100% mission success rating. The Zeus-HLONSs are responsible for destroying more than 200 pieces of UXO, as well as setting a record for UXO disarmament, neutralizing 51 pieces in 100 minutes. This field data is paired with extensive testing done at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, where Zeus-HLONS successfully disarmed over 1,600 pieces of UXO. With these high marks, the Department of Defense deployed the Zeus-HLONS to Iraq as a convoy protection plan.
However, Army researchers, with the help of Alabama contractor SPARTA, Inc., have developed a 2-kilowatt solid-state laser that mounts onto a heavily-armored Humvee. Called the Zeus-HLONS (for Humvee Laser Ordinance Neutralization System), this laser system eliminates both the proximity and high explosive dangers that Army engineers fought in the past. The Zeus-HLONS has an effective standoff operational distance of 300 meters, which puts engineers well out of the blast radius of the ordinance.
More remarkable, however, is the explosion itself. As most UXO are designed for the destruction of armored vehicles, disarming or otherwise destroying them will result in a high order/high explosive blast, using all of its destructive power. Zeus-HLONS negates this effect with the laser. The HLONS laser gives engineers the ability to heat the casing and drill a hole straight into the ordnance itself, which releases the gas. The heat from the laser causes the inner ordinance to detonate; the gas release, however, causes the pressure that would result in a high order explosion to just fissure out. This results in a largely mitigated explosion of a lethal ordinance weapon or trap.
When early models of the Zeus-HLONS deployed to Afghanistan in 2004, they earned a 100% mission success rating. The Zeus-HLONSs are responsible for destroying more than 200 pieces of UXO, as well as setting a record for UXO disarmament, neutralizing 51 pieces in 100 minutes. This field data is paired with extensive testing done at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, where Zeus-HLONS successfully disarmed over 1,600 pieces of UXO. With these high marks, the Department of Defense deployed the Zeus-HLONS to Iraq as a convoy protection plan.
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