Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has a long history of collaborating with the Department of Defense (DoD) and other government agencies to provide research and development support to meet emerging national security needs. Livermore has experience and expertise in many areas of science and technology directly relevant to defense needs, including missile defense, solid-state lasers, armor/anti-armor materials and munitions, secure communications, micro and nanofabrication, remote sensing, and sensors and sensor networks.
DoD is transforming U.S. defense strategy and force structure to reflect post-Cold War threats to national security. The military must continue to be ready to engage in major conflicts while it increases capabilities to effectively counter irregular forces, insurgency, and terrorism. In dealing with these new threats, one advantage the U.S. has is its technical strengths.
The military benefits from a continual pipeline of new ideas, research and development, and demonstration of new concepts for systems and weapons through limited production, fielding, and evaluation. Livermore is contributing in a variety of areas. Examples include:
CAPS operations room
Intelligent
preparation of the battlefield. Livermore is developing technologies to improve capabilities for the systematic, continuous analyzing of the threat and battlefield environment. In addition to work on advanced sensor systems, the Laboratory has developed and continues to improve the Counterproliferation Analysis and Planning System (CAPS), which is widely used by military planners to analyze the WMD production capabilities of countries of concern and assess interdiction options. For more than 20 years, the Laboratory has also developed interactive conflict simulation models for DoD and other sponsors. The Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation (JCATS) and an offshoot for homeland security applications, the Analytical Conflict and Tactical Simulation (ACATS), are used for planning operations and training.
Armor kits for gun trucks in Iraq
Conventional
munitions and energetic materials. For more than a decade, the Laboratory has been engaged in a DOE–DoD advanced conventional munitions technology program for which we have developed new energetic materials and computer tools for the design and analysis of munitions. Livermore’s responsiveness to military needs was exemplified by the timely development of rapidly-deployable armor kits for gun trucks that are now providing convoy protection for American troops in Iraq.
Military
applications of lasers.
Laboratory researchers are developing advanced solid-state laser technologies
that have promise for a variety of military applications ranging from battlefield
defense against ballistic missiles to clearing minefields. The technologies won
two R&D100 awards in 2002, one 2003, and another in 2004.