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Plasma Cannons: The Super Powered Weapon of Tomorrow?

WeaponsEnergy

Christian Monson

January 18, 2023
10k views
8 min read

Plasma Cannons: The Super Powered Weapon of Tomorrow?

In elementary school, we all learn the three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. However, if you’ve taken more advanced physics studies, you know there’s actually a fourth: plasma. In this state, matter has so much energy that electrons begin leaving their orbits in their atoms and floating freely. This state of matter dominates the core of the sun, for example, where nuclear fusion takes place.

Naturally, after discovering plasma, humans began imagining ways to weaponize it. While these plasma weapons first saw use in science fiction, life has inevitably imitated art, with various militaries and governmental organizations working on plasma cannons and the other plasma weapons that feature so prominently in fictional space battles. Some have even had success.

The Problem with Plasma

Since plasma is ionized matter with extremely high amounts of energy, it seems straightforward to use it as a weapon. Just shoot it at your enemies and watch them melt away, right? Of course, reality is not so simple.

Just consider the other states of matter. It’s easy to shoot a solid projectile at someone, but liquid immediately gets more complicated. It disperses quickly, and only by maintaining it at high pressure can it be contained in a stream that can be used as a weapon on distant targets, such as fire hoses. Gas is even more difficult. If you try to shoot gas out of a gun, it just spreads out and becomes useless.

Well then plasma is a step even more problematic. Plasma has so much energy that it disperses to the point of being useless just millimeters from its source. Though most sci-fi movies don’t go into it, the most likely solution to this problem is the use of powerful magnetic fields to contain the plasma just like in fusion reactors.

Another problem is that if you’re shooting the plasma on a planet with an atmosphere, whatever gas it’s made of will necessarily be denser than the plasma. It will take extra energy to push the plasma through the denser gas, like trying to push a stream of air through the water. In other words, between magnetic fields and forceful propulsion, any plasma weapon would need a serious energy source to power it.

Consequently, militaries looking to weaponize plasma have come up with some creative solutions.

Marauder

In 1990, the United States Air Force Research Laboratory began computer simulations for their theoretical weapon MARAUDER, or Magnetically Accelerated Ring to Achieve Ultra-High Directed Energy and Radiation. It aimed to solve the previously discussed problems not by shooting plasma in a controlled stream but rather by spinning it up in donut shapes called toroids at an acceleration of 100 billion Gs. They ultimately hoped to shoot these rings of around two milligrams of plasma at 10,000 kilometers per second, which is 6,200 miles per second or three percent the speed of light. For reference, the fastest commercial rifle bullets travel at less than two kilometers per second.

The first actual experiment of the weapon took place in 1993 using the Shiva Star capacitor bank at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They found that a single shot had the energy of five pounds of TNT and caused “extreme mechanical and thermal shock” to its targets. It also created an electromagnetic pulse that disrupted electronic devices.

After the 1993 experiment, the Air Force made few references to the MARAUDER project. It was then deemed classified in 1995, so it is unknown whether it’s still in development, scrapped, or perhaps even operational.

Non-Lethal Lasers

Another weaponization of plasma was discovered by accident during the Cold War. Initially, the United States was looking into lasers as a way of inflicting damage on a target, and they soon discovered that these lasers created clouds of plasma. At first this was a problem because the plasma absorbed the energy from the laser pulses, but they soon realized that with the right laser, they could cause the plasma to explode, causing damage all on its own.

Their favorite thing about this weapon was that they could scale its effects. By changing the power of the laser, they could create massive explosions or merely stun their targets. Originally called the Pulsed Impulsive Kill Laser, or PIKL, it was upgraded to the Pulsed Chemical Laser, or PCL, in 1998, and then the Pulsed Energy Projectile, or PEP, in 2000.

Research on the PEP concluded that the exploding plasma created an electromagnetic pulse that caused pain and even temporary paralysis without causing any physical damage. The US military had plans to mount the PEP on a hummer and aim it at targets over a mile away as a non-lethal deterrent that would stun targets.

However, ethical concerns as well as difficulties fine-tuning the EMP frequency saw PEP replaced by a different project: the Plasma Acoustic Shield System, or PASS, developed in 2013. It was based on a simpler idea. The laser-induced plasma explosions would be loud and bright enough to stun targets. Still, PASS had its own problems, namely that it could deafen and blind friendly troops.

Now, the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate is working on a laser plasma device they call Scalable Compact Ultra-Short Pulse Laser System, or SCUPLS. Small enough to fit on a light vehicle, it can produce flash-bangs of up to 165 decibels, about as loud as a jet engine, and large amounts of pain when it hits its target. Interestingly, it can also be used to transmit voice messages over a range of about a kilometer.

The US Department of Defense is currently integrating SCUPLS with the Marine Corps as well as Customs and Border Control and municipal police departments. While it’s currently designed for non-lethal purposes, it could be scaled for lethal use.

Russian Wunderwaffen

The US isn’t the only country that’s made public its interest in plasma weapons. Back in 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that they had already developed advanced “hypersonic” weapons that were completely different from other weapons because they operated in a “plasma medium.”

Then, in 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed plans for six new strategic weapons in the Russian arsenal. While it turned out none of these were plasma cannons or even plasma weapons per se, one was a hypersonic cruise missile called Kinzhal, or dagger, that relies on plasma for its stealth operation. Flying at a speed of over 6,000 kilometers per hour, or 3,700 miles an hour, it creates a cloud of plasma in front of it that absorbs radio waves, making it nearly impossible to catch on radar.

Russia has even used the Kinzhal in the war in Ukraine. For example, in March, the Russian military struck a munitions depot in the Ukrainian village of Deliatyn with a Kinzhal missile. Since Deliatyn lies just 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, from Romania, this put NATO countries on edge. With a range of 2,000 kilometers, or 1,200 miles, Kinzahl missiles launched from Kaliningrad could hit a number of European cities.

At the same time, the Russian government continues to emphasize the progress of its weapons programs and its scientists’ expertise in advanced materials like plasma. Although some shrug this off as propaganda similar to Nazi stories of wunderwaffen during World War II, others speculate that Russia may end up being the first to use plasma cannons or similar plasma weapons in actual combat.

From Fiction to Fact

For the time being, it looks like plasma cannons are more a thing of science fiction than scientific reality. But will it always be that way? Given the large amount of interest in and the money devoted to plasma weapons research, plasma cannons might be here sooner than you’d think, but what exactly will they look like?

Since creating plasma and then concentrating it into beams or toroids requires so much energy, individual plasma rifles seem less likely than massive structures drawing power from a central energy source. While these would most likely be large defensive structures, they could potentially be attached to naval vessels with nuclear reactors. These tactical cannons would be even better facilitated with a fusion power source, so if you’re curious about how the development of fusion reactors is coming along, be sure to watch our video covering that as well.

In other words, the weaponization of plasma relies on the development of a lot of other technologies, from fusion to lasers. In the long run, will the persistence of world governments and militaries overcome these technological obstacles to create the plasma cannons worthy of on-screen space battles and epic video games? It may just be a matter of time.

Sources

Image

Purple and pink plasma ball, Hal Gatewood, 7 October 2017, Unsplash, Unsplash License (free to use), https://unsplash.com/photos/purple-and-pink-plasma-ball-OgvqXGL7XO4