Companies like Apollo Diamond and Gemesis specialize in creating the synthetic diamonds that the Air Force is interested in. Apollo Diamond CEO Patrick Doering said his company plans to submit an invited proposal to the Air Force for the project. "The critical thing is that you don't want a lot of absorption (of high-powered microwaves)," said Doering. "What can happen is that if a material absorbs too much heat its properties can change, it might absorb more heat, and then you get this runaway situation." Within seconds, a cloudier material like glass would melt or shatter from the microwaves passing through it. Combine diamond's optical and thermal properties with its physical strength, more than enough to withstand bird strikes and other physical stresses encountered during flight, and you have a material uniquely suited for a new weapon capable of destroying unshielded electrical systems. When high-powered microwaves encounter an electrical system, they cause a short-lived but overwhelming power surge. An electrical system struck by an HPM, or its better-known cousin, the electromagnetic pulse, simply stops working. There is no explosion or sound. Incoming missiles or other aircraft that encounter HPMs, in theory, would just drop out of the sky. Mitchell says that it typically takes about 10 years for new materials or technology to make it into commercial or military devices, so diamond-encrusted aircraft won't be flying over battlefields anytime soon. Related Links: |
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