ENABLING WARFARE AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MULTI-MISSION HIGH ENERGY LASER RADARS

This capstone report provides a cost effectiveness analysis of various radar systems capable of guiding the Multi-Mission High Energy Laser (MMHEL) from a Stryker platform. The Army's Rapid Capability and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) is developing the MMHEL to provide a Mobile Short-Range Air Defense (MSHORAD) capability to maneuver units. The MMHEL requires a radar to cue the fire control system for target engagement. Past efforts to employ high-energy lasers have relied on large, stationary radars for target acquisition. The reliance on such radars limits a unit's ability to maneuver and results in the laser being employed primarily from a defensive posture. To maximize maneuverability and enable the offensive employment of the MMHEL, the U.S. Army needs an on-platform radar that is compact and inexpensive enough to equip multiple Strykers within a Stryker Brigade Combat Team with the capability to engage targets from a mobile platform. The RCCTO is currently tasked with accelerating efforts to fill this need. The intent of this report is to assist the RCCTO in these efforts by generating a list of viable radar alternatives and conducting a cost effectiveness analysis to produce a recommendation of the most optimal solution. The results indicate that RADA's aCHR radar presents the best value in terms of cost and benefit to the warfighter.http://archive.org/details/enablingwarfarea1094564109Captain, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Mediterranean winter rainfall in phase with African monsoons during the past 1.36 million years

Mediterranean climates are characterized by strong seasonal contrasts between dry summers and wet winters. Changes in winter rainfall are critical for regional socioeconomic development, but are difficult to simulate accurately1 and reconstruct on Quaternary timescales. This is partly because regional hydroclimate records that cover multiple glacial–interglacial cycles2,3 with different orbital geometries, global ice volume and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are scarce. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms of change and their persistence remain unexplored. Here we show that, over the past 1.36 million years, wet winters in the northcentral Mediterranean tend to occur with high contrasts in local, seasonal insolation and a vigorous African summer monsoon. Our proxy time series from Lake Ohrid on the Balkan Peninsula, together with a 784,000-year transient climate model hindcast, suggest that increased sea surface temperatures amplify local cyclone development and refuel North Atlantic low-pressure systems that enter the Mediterranean during phases of low continental ice volume and high concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases. A comparison with modern reanalysis data shows that current drivers of the amount of rainfall in the Mediterranean share some similarities to those that drive the reconstructed increases in precipitation. Our data cover multiple insolation maxima and are therefore an important benchmark for testing climate model performance