Is The United States Firing Off “Electricity Bombs” in Syria?

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated Jul 5, 2020 7:16 PM EDT

It sounds like something straight out of Call of Duty video game sequel, James Bond movie, or Batman comic. Troops call in an air strike, but instead of high explosives , the pilots employ a weapon that screws with the enemy’s electronics, disabling them or making them catch fire or even explode, becoming little bombs in of themselves. But it’s not a plot device from a Hollywood blockbuster or video game. It’s a detail passed along from a journalist in Syria – and what’s more, some part of the report might be true. We’ve seen at least one similar rumor emanating from a modern battlefield in the past.

The new report emerged on July 7, 2017, when Jenan Moussa, a “roving reporter Arabic Al Aan TV,” an Arabic-language satellite television network with its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, wrote on Twitter that members of the U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces told her American warplanes sometimes dropped an “electricity bomb.” The SDF fighters added that when the weapon went off, anyone carrying metallic items would “burn.”

“They call it electricity bomb here bcz [because] they don’t know real name,” Moussa wrote in a string of Tweets that included video and pictures from the city of Raqqa , ISIS’ de facto capital. “When plane wants to drop electricity bomb, we are told to drop anything metal that we carry. Otherwise we also burn like ISIS fighters.”

Right from the start it sound like a conspiracy theory and many are likely to quickly dismiss it as such. To be sure, the idea that a “bomb” would cause metal objects to become so hot as to burn anyone carrying them, or any similar effect sounds like an easy recipe for a civilian casualty nightmare with the potential for innocent people to get burned at the dinner table by their own silverware and children to get injured by their metal toys. But what if it wasn’t a bomb or a missile, at least in the traditional sense?

What if the weapon described by fighters to Moussa was actually focused microwave beam, highly localized electromagnetic pulse munition, or even some sort of pinpoint cyber attack? Maybe the SDF fighters saw the aftermath of any one of these types strikes and assumed the metal parts had burned up because they were the target of such weapon rather than just secondary effect from its use. Or maybe people’s cell phones are catching fire or exploding and it isn’t clear why, which is hardly an unheard of concept.

The idea of a weapon that could fit on an unmanned aircraft and stop cars using a pulse of energy or ignite cellphones at the flip of a switch would definitely be a desirable new capability if engineers could get it to work. It is hardly the most outlandish concept the U.S. military or American intelligence agencies have ever pursued. What we do know is this sounds an awful lot like another strange report we’d heard of before and it seems possible, at least in part, based on weapons and other equipment that already exists, or that could potentially exist clandestinely, that some kernal of truth could be behind them.

If anything else, these rumors can act as a jumping off point for us to brainstorm how the weapons of tomorrow could obtain such tactical effects, regardless of if they actually exist today or not.

An airmen prepares to load a 2,000-pound class GBU-31/B onto a B-1 bomber ahead of a strike on targets in Libya in 2011., USAF

Moussa’s report from Syria fits loosely with at least one other equally vague report dating back more than five years. The common theme between the two is the broad description of some sort of electronics-busting weapons that hamper enemy activities rather than necessarily killing them outright.

In November 2011, the international wire service AFP ran a story about secret American teams guarding chemical weapons stockpiles in Libya. With the help of a NATO-led air campaign, rebels overran these sites as they overthrew the regime of long-time strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Fearing these weapons of mass destruction could fall into terrorist hands in the ensuing chaos , the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. military , swooped in to guard the chemical-filled bunkers.

Commercial chemical containers sit out in the open in Libya in 2011., AP

“Stun bombs had also already been used against other fighters roaming on the site some days earlier, recalled Safi ad-Din,” according to AFP’s report. “All the curious ones risk an air strike if they get closer than 50 meters (yards) to the chemical bunkers.”

It was unclear whether ad-Din, a Libyan chemical weapons “expert” who was working with the American personnel, was referring to an air-dropped weapon of some description or a more mundane weapon like a flashbang or stun-ball hand grenade. However, Ahmed Misrati, who AFP described simply as a “fighter,” separately added that an airstrike had previously “destroyed” a car with two occupants “without anybody even being hurt.”

This would have been quite a feat for a specialized high-explosive weapon like the BLU-129/B Very Low Collateral Damage Bomb or even an inert, concrete-filled type. Purpose-built designs like these are still very lethal, as we saw when something similar killed Abu Khayr al Masri, then Al Qaeda’s number two man, in Syria in February 2017.

Instead, what ad-Din and and Misrati seemed to be describing was some sort of airborne or air-dropped less than lethal weapon that could stun personnel or cripple a car’s operating electronics. As fanciful as that idea sounds, this would be in line with technology the U.S. military has been working on and demonstrated in laboratory settings since before the intervention in Libya.

A truck-mounted Active Denial System “pain ray.”, USAF

The desire for weapons that provide “scalable” effects ranging from disrupting to destroying electronics and associated power infrastructure already make perfect sense. Electronics have become essential to modern military operations, from navigation to targeting and more . On top of that, concerns about civilian casualties have become an increasing important issue, especially in limited conflicts against terrorists and insurgents where air strikes are very likely to occur in densely packed urban environments full of innocent bystanders – like Raqqa.

In 1991, the U.S. Navy fired so-called “ Kit-2 ” Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles into Iraq. These dropped spools of highly-conductive carbon fiber wire over power stations causing short circuits. Though there are few other available details about this configuration, the missiles were reportedly responsible for decimating Iraqi power generation during the conflict.

In 1999, F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters did the same thing in Serbia, but this time using special cluster bombs full of BLU-114/B submunitions . The press quickly dubbed these previously undisclosed weapons, each full of graphite filament, “soft bombs” and “ blackout bombs .” Unfortunately, carbon fiber and graphite payloads only work on uninsulated power lines, which greatly limits their overall usefulness.

Since then, the U.S. military has publicly pushed to develop directed energy weapons – a broad category that includes both lasers and high power microwave beams – to produce more consistent effects, as well as narrowing the focus of an attack closer to the target itself and otherwise limit any collateral impact.

In 2012, one such design emerged as part of a project known as the Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project, or CHAMP . Unlike the earlier weapons, this design, tucked away inside a stand-off cruise missile, featured a powerful microwave emitter that could knock out electronics with its pulsing beam.

An artist’s conception of the CHAMP weapon., Boeing capture

In a test, the U.S. Air Force and prime contractor Boeing had successfully used prototype unit, inside a modified AGM-86 air-launched cruise missile, to knock out a number of target computers in a mock, two-story office building. The missile went on to attack other targets at a test range in Utah before crashing at a predetermined location.

Two years later, the U.S. Air Force claimed it would have a working “counter-electronics weapon” prototype by the end of the decade. As of 2015, the Air Force was still actively working on the CHAMP concept, with plans to install the device on the stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER) cruise missile. However, the service has been especially secretive about the progress of the program or whether it has experimented with installing the equipment itself in manned or unmanned aircraft.

There is also the possibility that properly configured and suitably powerful electronically scanned array radar arrays might be able to create similar damage by shooting out narrow beams of high power electromagnetic energy at certain targets types.

At the same time, the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps have experimented with ground-based, less than lethal “ pain-rays ” for crowd control and other purposes, including a large vehicle-mounted arrangement known as the Active Denial System (ADS). The Air Force has talked about possibility installing this sort of equipment on AC-130 gunships and other aircraft in the past, too.

These systems use a high power microwave beam to make subjects feel as if “their skin is on fire,” but it leaves no lasting wounds. There remains perpetual concerns, however, that ADS and other related devices could do real damage if someone turned the power up high enough or tuned the system to the wrong frequency. The potential fear, justified or not , of injuring or even killing someone with an officially “non-lethal” weapon has been one explanation as to why the U.S. military deployed one prototype ADS to Afghanistan, but never used it .

But maybe most importantly, the U.S. Navy has been hard at work on radio-frequency disruptors than can zap the engine in a car or boat and bring them to a halt. One potential scenario would be bringing car or truck bombs to a halt before they can reach their target. If that doesn’t work, the same system might be able to trigger the explosives early, away from friendly forces. Engineers were already testing a prototype “RF Vehicle Stopper” during the 2008 fiscal year, according to a Naval Surface Warfare Center – Dahlgren Division presentation the author previously obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The same 2016 briefing said the hope was that the systems would be ready for field use by the 2017 or 2018 fiscal years. “Reduced size and weight will allow integration into multiple platforms,” one of the Powerpoint slides explained, which again could conceivably include manned aircraft or drones. A spin-off concept, the Pre-emplaced Electrical Vehicle Stopper (PEVS) was also in the works at that time. The equipment would act as an “electric, direct injection ‘speed-bump’ system [that] employs high voltage pulse to disrupt vehicle’s ECU [engine control unit],” another part of the briefing said. As such it “selectively stops single or multiple threat vehicles.”

The basic underlying technology has only been getting smaller and more portable, too. Raytheon, which manufactures both active electronically scanned array radars and the ADS, has found that gallium-nitritde makes for compact, highly efficient solid state emitters in radars. It’s latest Aegis and Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) systems are built around groups of smaller units that fit neatly inside uniform two foot cubes. The firm hopes to ultimately translate some of these same principles to a new, smaller and more mobile active denial arrangement.

Raytheon is also responsible for the compact laser weapon that the U.S. Army tested on an AH-64 Apache gunship helicopter in June 2017, proving that a functional airborne laser weapon was no longer required a massive aircraft to haul it around, something that will only push other services to continue pursuing their own offensive and defensive directed energy projects. In addition, the U.S. military has seized on both miniaturized lasers and lightweight jammers as a key way of countering the emerging threat of small enemy drones, which will likely promote the development of other new directed energy technologies.

There are always cyber weapons, which the U.S. military has referred to as “ cyber bombs ” in the past, too. BAE Systems has already created a secretive computer program known as Suter that reportedly can trick radars into pointing the wrong direction or possibly crash military air defense networks altogether. Depending on how it breaches an opposing system, it could theoretically disable power regulating functions on various electronic equipment, causing them to overheat and either shut down or “burn” and destroy themselves. What little information available about Suter says it is almost entirely focused on countering air defense systems, but the same concept could apply to other networks electronic components as well.

We already know that the U.S. Intelligence Community did something similar in principle on a much more localized level in Iran. The famous Stuxnet worm crippled Iran’s nuclear enrichment program for a time by screwing with the industrial control software controlling the centrifuges, causing them to spin out of control and tear themselves apart. There was also reportedly a follow-on plan for a series of much more ambitious and widespread cyber attacks, known collectively as “ Nitro Zeus ,” in the event the Iran Deal failed.

In April 2017, the U.S. Army publicly disclosed it was working on a concept that envisioned a future where troops could call in cyber attacks like artillery fire. The service had tested a mobile system simply known as “Killer” that had the ability to use on board gear and unspecified space-based assets to disrupt nearby enemy networks. A separate “Hunter” vehicle was focused purely on knocking out small drones.

The U.S. Army’s Hunter and Killer on the move during an experimental exercise in April 2017., U.S. Army

This is just what we know about , too. A 2012 U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which we also obtained via FOIA, outlines eight electronic warfare missions , including one that is classified secret. CENTCOM is the U.S. military’s top warfighting command for the Middle East and much of Central Asia, including overseeing the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

“Military action involving the use of [directed energy] weapons, devices, and countermeasures to incapacitate, cause direct damage or destruction of adversary equipment, facilities, and/or personnel or to determine, exploit, reduce, or prevent hostile use of the [electromagnetic spectrum] through damage, destruction, and disruption,” is how the regulation describes directed energy warfare. The redacted mission could involve other kinds of distributed attacks that might be able to create similar effects.

It is very possible, if almost a certainty, that, just like still secret manned aircraft and drones, there are exotic payloads and weapons that have yet to make it out into the light. The U.S. military, including the NSA, and the CIA already track targets for more conventional air strikes via their cellphone signals alone . It’s not hard to imagine a podded microwave beam and one small enough to fit on an unmanned vehicle that could be flying over Raqqa zapping terrorist electronics.

A malware toting cyber weapon, or a drone carrying a directed energy weapon capable of turning that phone into a searing hot iron that injures or maims the individual carrying it on the spot sounds like the sort of thing the CIA would be interested in if it was at all feasible. It would help explain why the SDF told Moussa they had to drop everything rather than just power down any electronic devices until the threat had passed by the group.

When it comes to clandestine flying directed energy weapons, and even the ability to deliver a cyber weapon to certain networks directly, those are the kind of exotic payloads that engineers might be able to keep hidden at a number secretive test sites, such as the one at the edge of Yucca Dry Lake near Area 51. This testing facility, sometimes called Area Six , reportedly has ties to the CIA’s own unmanned aircraft programs and associated equipment.

Marines gather together weapons captured from insurgents in Iraq., USMC

Confusion, disinformation, and tall tales

Now, there is still the distinct possibility that this latest story from Syria is a misinterpretations of first- or second-hand accounts or outright fabrication on the part of the SDF. Their claims could be a part or the product of active disinformation campaigns or other psychological warfare. On battlefield story may simply have taken on a life of its own.

There is always a certain fear of the unknown in warfare and this would be especially true for irregular groups fighting against larger, more technologically superior foreign opponents. Maybe rumors of almost absurdly advanced weaponry is how fighters are inclined to frame their disadvantages. However it happens, we’ve seen these sorts of stories develop organically many times before.

Notably, after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military found that insurgents had somehow come to the conclusion that the orange air identification panels on M1 Abrams tanks and other armored vehicles, there to help prevent friendly fire incidents, were actually force field generators . As a result, American forces began to find RPG warheads covered in electrical tape or with plastic bags, which militants also thought was enough to break through this barrier.

A child soldier in Liberia in 1996 wears a diving vest, likely with supposed magical properties, for protection., AP

Another popular example is of Liberian rebels in the 1990s and 2000s who wore orange life jackets and other mismatched clothing items imbued with magic to make them impervious to bullets. There are countless similar stories from conflicts the world over, often with few obvious explanations as to how the specific battlefield superstition came about.

The “electricity bombs” in Syria and the “stun bombs” of Libya could very easily be bogus, too. But at the same time, we do know that the U.S. military is working to make a broad selection of weapons with similar sounding capabilities a reality.

So, just perhaps, the SDF fighters in Raqqa weren’t as crazy as they seemed at first glance.

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com

Comments couldn’t be loaded. Please refresh the page.

作者：约瑟夫·特雷维西克

更新于美国东部时间2020年7月5日晚上7:16

这听起来像是《使命召唤》游戏续作、詹姆斯·邦德电影或蝙蝠侠漫画里的情节。部队呼叫空袭，但飞行员使用的不是高爆炸药，而是一种能干扰敌方电子设备的武器，使其瘫痪、起火甚至爆炸，使其自身变成小型炸弹。但这并非好莱坞大片或电子游戏的剧情设定，而是一位身在叙利亚的记者透露的信息——而且，报道中的某些内容可能属实。我们过去至少在现代战场上见过一次类似的传闻。

这份新报告于2017年7月7日出现。当时，总部位于阿拉伯联合酋长国的阿拉伯语卫星电视台Al Aan TV的“流动记者”珍娜·穆萨在推特上发文称，美国支持的叙利亚民主力量成员告诉她，美军战机有时会投掷“电击炸弹”。叙利亚民主力量的战士们还补充说，这种武器爆炸时，任何携带金属物品的人都会“被烧伤”。

“他们这里管它叫电击炸弹，因为他们不知道它的真名，”穆萨在一系列推文中写道，推文还附上了来自ISIS实际首都拉卡市的视频和图片。“当飞机要投掷电击炸弹时，我们被告知要扔掉身上所有金属物品。否则我们也会像ISIS战士一样被烧死。”

从一开始就听起来像是个阴谋论，很多人很可能会迅速将其斥为阴谋论。的确，“炸弹”会使金属物体变得异常炽热，以至于烫伤任何携带者，或者产生类似的效果，这听起来很容易造成平民伤亡的噩梦，无辜的人可能会在餐桌上被自己的餐具烫伤，孩子们可能会被金属玩具划伤。但如果它不是炸弹或导弹呢？至少不是传统意义上的炸弹或导弹？

如果战士们向穆萨描述的武器实际上是聚焦微波束、高度局部化的电磁脉冲弹药，甚至是某种精确制导的网络攻击呢？或许叙利亚民主军战士们目睹了这类攻击的后果，误以为金属部件烧毁是因为它们本身就是这类武器的目标，而非仅仅是其使用造成的次生影响。又或许，人们的手机着火或爆炸，但原因不明——这种情况并非闻所未闻。

如果工程师们能够研制出一种可以安装在无人机上，利用脉冲能量使汽车停止行驶或一键点亮手机的武器，那无疑将是一项令人垂涎的新技术。这并非美国军方或情报机构曾经追求过的最离奇的想法。我们所知道的是，这听起来很像我们之前听说过的另一份奇怪的报告，而且，至少部分基于已经存在或可能秘密存在的武器和其他装备，这些报告背后或许蕴含着一些事实。

即便没有其他作用，这些传闻也可以作为我们集思广益的起点，让我们思考未来的武器如何才能获得这样的战术效果，无论它们现在是否真的存在。

2011年，一名空军士兵准备将一枚2000磅重的GBU-31/B炸弹装载到B-1轰炸机上，准备对利比亚境内的目标进行打击。（美国空军）

穆萨从叙利亚发回的报告与至少另一份同样含糊不清、年代久远的报告大致吻合。这两份报告的共同点在于，它们都笼统地描述了一种能够干扰敌方电子设备的武器，这种武器的作用是阻碍敌方活动，而非直接消灭敌人。

2011年11月，国际通讯社法新社报道了美国秘密小组在利比亚守卫化学武器库的情况。在北约领导的空袭行动的帮助下，反叛武装推翻了长期强人穆阿迈尔·卡扎菲政权，并占领了这些设施。由于担心这些大规模杀伤性武器会在随后的混乱中落入恐怖分子之手，美国中央情报局（CIA）和军方迅速出动，守卫这些装满化学品的掩体。

2011年，在利比亚，商用化学品容器露天放置。（美联社）

据法新社报道，萨菲·阿德丁回忆说：“几天前，他们也曾对在该区域游荡的其他武装分子使用过眩晕弹。所有胆敢靠近化学掩体50米以内的好奇者都将面临空袭的风险。”

目前尚不清楚与美军人员合作的利比亚化学武器“专家”阿德丁所指的究竟是某种空投武器，还是像闪光弹或眩晕手榴弹这样更常见的武器。不过，法新社仅称其为“战士”的艾哈迈德·米斯拉蒂则补充说，此前的一次空袭“摧毁”了一辆载有两人的汽车，“但无人受伤”。

对于像BLU-129/B超低附带损伤炸弹这样的专用高爆炸性武器，甚至是惰性混凝土炸弹来说，这都是一项了不起的成就。这类专门设计的炸弹仍然非常致命，正如我们在2017年2月叙利亚发生的事件中所见，当时基地组织二号人物阿布·海尔·马斯里就是被类似的炸弹炸死的。

相反，阿德丁和米斯拉蒂似乎描述的是一种空投或空降的非致命性武器，可以击晕人员或瘫痪车辆的电子设备。尽管这个想法听起来有些异想天开，但这与美军自干预利比亚之前就在实验室中研发和展示的技术相符。

美国空军一种车载式主动拒止系统“疼痛射线”。

人们渴望拥有能够产生“可扩展”效果的武器，其作用范围涵盖干扰乃至摧毁电子设备及其相关电力基础设施，这完全合情合理。电子设备已成为现代军事行动不可或缺的一部分，从导航到目标定位，无所不包。此外，平民伤亡问题也日益受到重视，尤其是在与恐怖分子和叛乱分子的有限冲突中，空袭很可能发生在人口稠密、无辜平民众多的城市环境中——例如拉卡。

1991年，美国海军向伊拉克发射了所谓的“Kit-2”型战斧陆攻导弹。这些导弹将高导电性碳纤维线轴投放到发电站上空，造成短路。尽管关于这种导弹配置的其他细节鲜为人知，但据报道，这些导弹在伊拉克战争期间严重破坏了伊拉克的电力生产。

1999年，F-117“夜鹰”隐形战斗机在塞尔维亚也进行了类似的演习，但这次使用的是装满BLU-114/B子弹药的特制集束炸弹。媒体迅速将这些此前未公开的、内含石墨丝的武器称为“软炸弹”和“黑暗炸弹”。然而，碳纤维和石墨弹头只能用于未绝缘的电力线，这大大限制了它们的整体用途。

从那时起，美国军方公开推动研发定向能武器（包括激光和高功率微波束在内的广泛类别），以产生更一致的效果，并将攻击焦点缩小到更接近目标本身，并限制任何附带影响。

2012年，一种此类设计作为名为“反电子高功率微波先进导弹项目”（CHAMP）的一部分问世。与早期的武器不同，这种设计隐藏在防区外巡航导弹内部，配备了一个强大的微波发射器，其脉冲波束可以干扰电子设备。

艺术家对CHAMP武器的构想图，波音公司拍摄

在一次测试中，美国空军和主承包商波音公司成功地将原型装置安装在一枚改装过的AGM-86空射巡航导弹上，摧毁了一座模拟两层办公楼内的多台目标计算机。随后，这枚导弹在犹他州的一个试验场上攻击了其他目标，最终坠落在预定地点。

两年后，美国空军声称将在本十年末研制出可用的“反电子武器”原型。截至2015年，空军仍在积极研发CHAMP概念，计划将其安装在隐形联合空对地防区外导弹增程型（JASSM-ER）巡航导弹上。然而，空军对该项目的进展情况一直讳莫如深，也未透露是否已在有人或无人驾驶飞机上进行过该设备的安装试验。

还有一种可能性是，配置得当且功率足够大的电子扫描阵列雷达阵列，可以通过向某些类型的目标发射高功率电磁能量的窄束光束，造成类似的破坏。

与此同时，美国陆军、空军和海军陆战队一直在试验地面部署的非致命性“疼痛射线”，用于人群控制和其他用途，其中包括一种名为“主动拒止系统”（ADS）的大型车载装置。空军过去也曾讨论过在AC-130炮艇机和其他飞机上安装此类设备的可能性。

这些系统利用高功率微波束使受试者感觉“皮肤像着火一样”，但不会留下永久性伤口。然而，人们始终担心，如果有人将功率调得过高或将系统调到错误的频率，主动辐射系统（ADS）和其他相关设备可能会造成真正的伤害。这种担心，无论是否合理，都可能因为使用官方认定为“非致命性”的武器而伤人甚至致人死亡。这正是美军向阿富汗部署了一套ADS原型机，但从未实际使用的原因之一。

但或许最重要的是，美国海军一直在努力研发射频干扰器，这种干扰器可以干扰汽车或船只的引擎，使其停止运行。一种潜在的应用场景是，在汽车或卡车炸弹到达目标之前将其拦截。如果这种方法行不通，同样的系统或许还能提前引爆炸药，使其远离友军。根据笔者此前通过《信息自由法》获得的一份海军水面作战中心达尔格伦分部演示文稿，工程师们早在2008财年就开始测试一种名为“射频车辆拦截器”的原型机。

2016年的同一份简报指出，希望这些系统能在2017或2018财年投入实战使用。其中一张幻灯片解释说：“尺寸和重量的减小将使其能够集成到多个平台上”，这些平台很可能包括有人驾驶飞机或无人机。当时，一项衍生概念——预置式电动车辆拦截器（PEVS）也在研发中。简报的另一部分指出，该设备将作为一种“电动直喷式‘减速带’系统，利用高压脉冲干扰车辆的ECU（发动机控制单元）”。因此，它可以“选择性地拦截单个或多个威胁车辆”。

其底层技术也在不断小型化和便携化。雷神公司（Raytheon）生产有源电子扫描阵列雷达和主动防御系统（ADS），该公司发现氮化镓是制造雷达中紧凑高效的固态发射器的理想材料。其最新的宙斯盾和企业级空中监视雷达（EASR）系统均采用小型单元组，这些单元可以整齐地装入两英尺见方的统一尺寸立方体中。该公司希望最终能将这些原理应用于一种新型的、更小巧、更便携的主动拒止系统。

雷神公司还负责研发了一种小型激光武器，美国陆军于2017年6月在AH-64阿帕奇武装直升机上进行了测试，证明功能齐全的机载激光武器不再需要大型飞机来运载。这一成果将促使其他军种继续推进各自的进攻性和防御性定向能项目。此外，美军已将小型化激光器和轻型干扰器视为应对小型敌方无人机这一新兴威胁的关键手段，这很可能会促进其他新型定向能技术的发展。

网络武器始终存在，美军过去也曾将其称为“网络炸弹”。英国航空航天系统公司（BAE Systems）已经开发出一款名为“苏特”（Suter）的秘密计算机程序，据报道，该程序可以欺骗雷达，使其指向错误的方向，甚至可能彻底瘫痪军用防空网络。根据其入侵敌方系统的方式，理论上它可以使各种电子设备的电源调节功能失效，导致这些设备过热，最终关闭或“烧毁”。目前关于“苏特”的信息很少，但据了解，它几乎完全专注于对抗防空系统，不过同样的原理也可能适用于其他网络电子元件。

我们已经知道，美国情报机构在伊朗也采取过类似的策略，只是规模要小得多。著名的“震网”（Stuxnet）蠕虫病毒通过干扰控制离心机的工业控制软件，导致离心机失控旋转并最终解体，一度瘫痪了伊朗的核浓缩计划。据报道，如果伊朗核协议失败，美国还制定了一项后续计划，即发动一系列规模更大、范围更广的网络攻击，统称为“硝基宙斯”（Nitro Zeus）。

2017年4月，美国陆军公开披露正在研发一项设想，未来部队可以像炮火攻击一样呼叫网络攻击。该军种测试了一款名为“杀手”（Killer）的移动系统，该系统能够利用车载设备和未公开的天基资源来干扰附近的敌方网络。另一款名为“猎手”（Hunter）的车辆则专门用于摧毁小型无人机。

2017年4月，美国陆军的“猎杀者”装甲车在一次试验性演习中移动。

以上只是我们目前所了解的情况。我们通过《信息自由法》获取的一份2012年美国中央司令部（CENTCOM）文件概述了八项电子战任务，其中一项属于机密。中央司令部是美国在中东和中亚大部分地区（包括伊拉克和叙利亚）的最高作战司令部，负责指挥打击“伊斯兰国”的行动。

该条例对定向能战的定义是：“使用定向能武器、装置和反制措施，以致于使敌方装备、设施和/或人员丧失能力、造成直接损害或摧毁，或通过损害、破坏和干扰来确定、利用、减少或阻止敌方对电磁频谱的使用。” 被隐去的任务内容可能涉及其他类型的分布式攻击，这些攻击或许能够产生类似的效果。

几乎可以肯定的是，就像那些仍然处于保密状态的有人驾驶飞机和无人机一样，也存在一些尚未公开的奇特载荷和武器。美国军方，包括国家安全局和中央情报局，已经能够仅凭手机信号追踪目标，以便进行更常规的空袭。不难想象，一种小型微波束装置，体积小到可以安装在无人机上，在拉卡上空飞行，摧毁恐怖分子的电子设备。

携带恶意软件的网络武器，或者搭载定向能武器的无人机，能够将手机变成灼热的铁块，当场伤害或致残手机使用者——如果这种武器真的可行，听起来像是中央情报局会感兴趣的那种东西。这也能解释为什么叙利亚民主力量告诉穆萨，他们必须放下一切，而不是仅仅关闭电子设备，直到威胁解除。

说到秘密飞行定向能武器，甚至是直接向特定网络投放网络武器的能力，这些都是工程师们可能藏匿在一些秘密测试场地的奇特有效载荷，例如位于51区附近尤卡干湖边缘的那个场地。据报道，这个有时被称为“六区”的测试设施与中央情报局的无人机项目及相关设备有着联系。

美国海军陆战队队员正在伊拉克收集缴获自叛乱分子的武器。

混乱、虚假信息和夸张故事

当然，目前仍存在一种可能性，即叙利亚方面最新的说法是对第一手或第二手资料的误读，甚至是叙利亚民主力量（SDF）的捏造。他们的说法可能是积极的虚假信息宣传或其他心理战的一部分，也可能是其产物。战场上的故事或许只是自行发展演变而来。

战争中总会存在对未知的恐惧，对于与规模更大、技术更先进的外国对手作战的非正规部队来说尤其如此。或许，关于敌方拥有近乎荒谬的先进武器的传言，正是战斗人员倾向于用来掩盖自身劣势的方式。无论如何，我们已经多次目睹过这类故事的自然发展。

值得注意的是，在2003年入侵伊拉克之后，美军发现叛乱分子不知何故得出这样的结论：M1艾布拉姆斯坦克和其他装甲车辆上用于防止友军误伤的橙色防空识别面板，实际上是力场发生器。结果，美军开始发现一些火箭弹弹头被电工胶带或塑料袋包裹，而武装分子也认为这些足以突破这一屏障。

1996年，利比里亚一名儿童兵身穿潜水背心，据信这种背心具有某种神奇的保护作用。（美联社）

另一个广为人知的例子是上世纪90年代和本世纪初的利比里亚反叛分子，他们身穿橙色救生衣和其他不相配的衣物，并被赋予了某种魔力，以求刀枪不入。世界各地冲突中都有无数类似的故事，但对于这些战场迷信的由来，往往缺乏合理的解释。

叙利亚的“电击炸弹”和利比亚的“眩晕炸弹”很可能也是假的。但与此同时，我们也知道，美军正在努力将一系列听起来功能类似的武器变为现实。

所以，或许拉卡的叙利亚民主军战士们并不像乍一看那么疯狂。

联系作者：joe@thedrive.com

评论加载失败，请刷新页面。