Posted on 02/16/2010 7:32:22 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
For the first time, after a decade of development, the U.S. Air Force fired its ALT (Airborne Laser Testbed) laser while in flight and hit a rapidly (1,800 meters a second) rising ballistic missile. The laser beam took several seconds to weaken the missile structure, and cause it to come apart. This test came only eight months after the smaller Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) was fired in flight for the first time. The target was some lumber on the ground, which was hit. The ATL weapon was carried in a C-130H four engine transport. Five years ago, manufacturers of combat lasers believed these weapons were only a few years away from battlefield use. To that end, Northrop-Grumman set up a new divisions to develop and build battle lasers. This optimism was caused by two successful tests six years ago. In one, a solid state laser shot down a mortar round. In another, a much more powerful chemical laser, hit a missile type target. Neither of these tests led to any useable weapons, and the combat laser remains the "weapon of the future." It hasn't worked out that way.
Solid state lasers have been around since the 1950s, and chemical lasers first appeared in the 1970s. The chemical laser has the advantage of using a chemical reaction to create the megawatt level of energy for a laser that can penetrate the body of a ballistic missile that is still rising in the air hundreds of kilometers away. The chemical reaction uses atomized liquid hydrogen peroxide and potassium hydroxide and chlorine gas to form an ionized form of oxygen known as singlet delta oxygen (SDO).
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Both the ABL abd the ATL are significant achievements. But the COIL laser will not be the basis for eventual HEL weapons. They will be electric lasers of some sort - solid state, fiber, or diode.
Really? Oh, really? That’s just rich....! LOL
Well, Star Wars is coming closer...
Cool a death ray!
Two words:
Ronald. Reagan.
“Solid state lasers have been around since the 1950s...”
Wrong. The first laser (pulsed ruby rod) was built in 1960. I think the public was generally unaware of lasers until the movie “Goldfinger” came out in 1964. Solid state diode lasers did not show up until decades later.
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