South of Death Valley and north of Los Angeles, the U.S. Air Force is testing a new weapon designed not to kill. The Air Force Research Laboratory, along with the Office of Naval Research, is conducting a two-month test of a device called the High Power Joint Electromagnetic Non-Kinetic Strike Weapon (HiJENKS). It's the culmination of a five-year project to create a machine that can destroy electronic devices in a targeted manner.
HiJENKS is the successor to the Counter-Electronic High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Program (CHAMP), both weapons designed to disable electronics without the use of explosion or impact.
Simply put, HiJENKS are high-power weapons that use pulses of microwave energy to destroy electronics. When the weapon is close to a target, the high-power energy pulse can burn out circuits or electronic sensor systems, while the target's electronic systems appear to be intact.
The original CHAMP was built to fit cruise missiles launched by the bomber . HIJENKS improves on this. It's unclear exactly how HiJENKS will be used. It could be mounted on a new cruise missile, or in a weapons bay that draws power from an aircraft, or it could even become the primary weapons system for a drone flying as a wingman for a manned fighter jet. Once
completes this test demonstrating the technology, it will begin work on more service-specific applications. HiJENKS's smaller footprint means it can be integrated onto a wider range of weapon-bearing systems.
