Laser Weapon Knocks Down Missile - Polidicks

[url]http://www.military.com/news/article/laser-weapon-knocks-down-missile.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl[/url] [quote]LOS ANGELES - A high-powered laser destroyed a target missile in flight off the Central California coast in a milestone test of a futuristic but troubled national defense system, the Air Force announced Friday. A laser weapon mounted on a Boeing jumbo jet tracked the missile as it accelerated over the ocean off the Point Mugu Naval Warfare Center Thursday night, then fired an energy beam that heated the missile until it cracked and broke up, according to statements from the Air Force and two aerospace companies involved in the program. The test is a boost for a program that has had billions in cost overruns and saw its budget sharply cut last year by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who called the concept "fatally flawed" and destined if for minimal research-and-development. While the success of the test is a technological triumph, it won't save the airborne laser program from being placed on life-support, a defense analyst said. "The program results are, unfortunately, two years behind the secretary's decision to cancel the program," said Jim McAleese of Mcaleese and Associates, a lawyer and defense consultant in Virginia who is not affiliated with the project. The laser program was designed to kill missiles at short range. The 2011 budget for the Missile Defense Agency concentrates instead on two ship-based missiles - the Aegis and the SM-3 - that are more useful for regional conflicts involving, say, Iran or North Korea, Mcaleese said. "As a practical matter, absent something extraordinary, the program has already receded backwards into a technology incubator as opposed to proceeding into production and fielding," he said. During Thursday's test, the so-called Airborne Laser Testbed was flown on a modified Boeing 747-400F that took off from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, Boeing said. The system used two low-energy lasers to target the missile as it was boosting into the sky from a sea platform, then fired a megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser, or COIL, according to the Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency. [/quote] Well here in America we have laser to shoot down missiles now. Sure, there are way cheaper ways to do it, but it's not like we have a budget or anything.

You should come here earlier next time!

[img]http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/dalek_wall_clock.jpg[/img] Laser clock!!!

What are the range on said lasers? If they have say a 100km range, place an umbrella of them on the coasts and have them be our defense grid. They can probably take down planes too, if you think about it.

The laser is mounted on a 747. This is not really new technology, it's just scaled up to a huge size. Take the Zeus anti-IED laser for example: [img]http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6156/zeussystem.jpg[/img] This thing has been in Afghanistan since 2002, and Iraq since 2005.

[QUOTE=OvB;20282385]The laser is mounted on a 747. This is not really new technology, it's just scaled up to a huge size. Take the Zeus anti-IED laser for example: *image* This thing has been in Afghanistan since 2002, and Iraq since 2005.[/QUOTE] That's not the point of the article. The point is it successfully took down a missile.

[QUOTE=Evil Policeman;20282411]That's not the point of the article. The point is it successfully took down a missile.[/QUOTE] That was more targeted toward the post above me. It's not the first time it's taken down a missile ether though.

[QUOTE=OvB;20282385]The laser is mounted on a 747. This is not really new technology, it's just scaled up to a huge size. Take the Zeus anti-IED laser for example: [img]http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6156/zeussystem.jpg[/img] This thing has been in Afghanistan since 2002, and Iraq since 2005.[/QUOTE] Didnt i see that in that commander and conquer game? [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Cncgzh-win-cover.jpg[/IMG]

[quote=jewsus;20282330][img]http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/dalek_wall_clock.jpg[/img] laser clock!!![/quote] WE DO NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM HUMANS. MAXIMUM EXTERMINATE [sp]caps[/sp]