US/UK Collaboration Produces New Military Laser Safety Code

  • Published
  • By Dr. Paul Kennedy, AFRL/RHDO
  • Human Effectiveness Directorate
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  AFRL's High-Energy Laser (HEL) team successfully completed a 3-year effort to develop a new international agreement expanding an existing collaboration between the US and the United Kingdom (UK). The new project arrangement, entitled "Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Methods for Military Laser Safety Predictions," authorizes a 5-year (2007-2012), $1 million effort to develop, test, and evaluate a PRA-based laser range safety tool. This new, jointly owned tool will replace the deterministic safety models currently used in the US. Likewise, it will become the universal tool for performing laser safety analyses in support of low- to moderate-power military laser use on US and UK ranges. The use of a common PRA technique, incorporated into a common tool, will enable laser safety officers to perform identical calculations, facilitating joint exercises on Department of Defense (DoD)/Ministry of Defence (MoD) ranges.

Researchers from AFRL and the UK's Military Laser Safety Committee began collaborating in November 2001 to develop military laser safety models based on PRA techniques. The motivation for this joint effort stems from a widespread belief that the deterministic models currently employed for US military laser safety analysis will be inadequate for addressing future DoD safety needs--especially those related to HEL testing, training, and deployment. Conversely, the MoD has been using PRA-based hazard analysis to support military laser tests at UK ranges for the past 20 years.

Modeled after the PRA tool used for the UK's TIALD [Thermal Image and Laser Designator] system, the jointly owned capability is known as the Military Advanced Technology Integrated Laser Hazard Assessment (MATILDA). AFRL scientists have completed and shipped MATILDA code Versions 1.0 and 1.2 to their UK counterparts for test and review. Spiral development of MATILDA code will occur over the next 4 years, with each new version building on the previous release and containing new features and functionality.