Score one for the Airborne Laser.
In a milestone for the ambitious directed-energy project, now dramatically downsized, the Pentagon’s Airborne Laser prototype weapons system destroyed a ballistic missile that was in flight. The shootdown took place February 11 off the central coast of California.
“The Airborne Laser Testbed team has made history with this experiment,” said Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, in a statement released Friday. Boeing is the prime contractor for the Defense Department project.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency was equally enthusiastic about the results. “The revolutionary use of directed energy is very attractive for missile defense,” the agency said in a statement, “with the potential to attack multiple targets at the speed of light, at a range of hundreds of kilometers, and at a low cost per intercept attempt compared to current technologies.
No doubt performed with the same skillset theyused shooting down previous attacking missiles at White Sands, etc..
First – you give the heroic defender the exact set of coordinates the “attacking missile” is required to follow…
After 30 years, Reagan’s Star Wars bares fruit. Next, sharks with lasers.
Congratulations, they have finally figured out how to win the last war… it’s only been over for a couple decades now.
Now they have to figure out how to deal with a small innocent-looking ship carrying a nuke into New York Harbor…
I saw the tests on youtube…and at 5-10 seconds per missile??
I’ll just fire 2 and watch you SQUIRM to hit the second one.
ALSO, this defense in BELOW you, only, so far..
Lets see a REAL demonstration..
#2 No, that’s sharks with “frickin” lasers. And make sure to emphasize the quotes.
Actually, I think it’s about time technology caught up to good old Russel P. Cates. In addition to saving humanity he has some interesting political views. …Makes a comment of 2 on my site here and there. cool guy.
Har, too funny!
Yeah, “Score one for airborn lasers”
billions of dollars down to tubes, and what’s that make our total again?
“one”
(assuming this isn’t another hoax)
Ok, but can it shoot down mosquitoes?
Awesome, totally 100% awesome.
And the “community-leader” Obama has less than 3 years left to screw up the military.
That my friends is Real Genius!
And this only took how many decades to do?
Seriously, they have been trying to do this for more than 30 years.
Good thing we don’t have to wait such a long time for other ‘important’ advances.
“with the potential to attack multiple targets at the speed of light, at a range of hundreds of kilometers, and at a low cost per intercept attempt compared to current technologies.”
OK, we will take all that as a given. Then to protect the US we need a minimum of one plane constantly patrolling over every US city and/or military base. Plus another on the ground ready to replace the one in the air in case of in-flight technical issues. Several sets of crew for each aircraft and lots of maintenance personnel because that a lot of flying hours.
That is lot lot of airframes and parts for Boeing to sell (or maybe they’ll try to slip that leasing deal thru).
But what if the rogue state decides to target Yakima, WA or Yosemite Park or Yellowstone or Vail, CO. It may not cripple the US but it would be a powerful statement with lots of casualties and lots of fallout.
So at best this (if it works as envisioned) solves only a small subset of the danger. Not to mention the danger of suitcase bombs.
OK.
1. this wasnt a close range shot.
2. NO airplane in the USA has been shot down with a Missile/rocket??
3. It takes about 5 seconds to destroy the missile/rocket
4. AT a commercial showing someone SHOOTING DOWN an air craft, it was SHORT range, shoulder launched, laser/wire guided..
This is more for OVER Pakistan/Israel where they are shooting back and forth..BUT it wont work on Cannon shells or MORTARS..
Only way they will send these craft out, is AFTER its been shown that SOMETHING is happening..which would be to late for a FLASH BANG terrorist attack.
ALL the attacks on the USA were against the Gov. NOT the citizens.. Even the Towers, were used at 1 time by the CIA as the highest terrestrial Antenna site to receive signals..as well as WTO(world trade organization) is misplaced for the WTC..(world trade center).
Poo! Did it bother to determine the gender of the missile first?
#15,
correct…
we dont want them to know HOW easy it is..
we dont want them to be MORE advanced then US..
we dont want them to learns that 1/2 our crap is STUPID, and has so many holes in the concept, that a person DECKED in mud could walk past and never be seen.
We need to deploy a bunch of these to the Border Patrol ASAP.
PEDRO,
look at the history of INDIA getting the bomb.
lOOK at Japan, Toshiba??, selling proprietary software hardware to OTHER COUNTRIES in the 70’s-80’s..
Now the military is working on an even more ambitious project, the kew, kew sound to go along with the death ray.
In general, the bigger the budget a project has, the longer it takes to get something working (if ever). The secret? Apparently it’s to cut the project’s budget and threaten to cancel the whole thing…
Two smart people in a garage somewhere could have had something working this well in one tenth the time for one one-hundredth the money. Okay, maybe it takes a few more than two once you start to build the prototypes…
I like it.
This might be pointed upwards to disable geocentric orbiting satellites , circumventing space weapons treaties.
You can philer up in flight. A big +! High octane fun and nobody wants to be caught in country in its death throes. The days are nightmares and the nights are hell. We’ll succeed and survive, so we’ll be rewarded. Keep a clear head tonight.
Pew Pew Pew!! [Starwars Reference]
Headline: “One $100K surface to air missile ends career of multi-billion dollar laser plane. Engineers lament, ‘I guess we designed a sitting, I mean, flying duck.'”
Haha Laser Zaps In-flight Missile, anyways it’s about time technology caught up to good and what’s that make our total again? Good thing we don’t have to wait such a long time for other ‘important’ advances.
I wonder what this thing would do OBL if they caught him on the ground…
ZAP!
#4 Two missiles may be a problem now, but this stuff is only going to get smaller and lighter. It’s only a matter of time until you have several mounted on aircraft.
You have got to get a ranking system for this board!