America's laser of death cleared for take-off

The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 02/17/2002 | Sean Rayment

[RichInOC]

OSAMA: "...Inshallah, we shall prevail! And may Allah the Most Just strike me dead by a lightning bolt if I am lying...."

ZOT!!!

[quesera]

Find out about whether there are really captured aliens.

That would be first on my list too. Second thing would be a tour of area 51, or it's new location.

[stryker]

The age of personal freedom is dead. Any weapon that can be turned upon an enemy can also be turned upon a dissenting citizen. Only the rise of an incredibly powerful constitutional party ready to punish public servants that even attempt to violate the letter or spirit of the Bill of Rights will save us and the world from a coming dark age.

[Doomonyou]

Nice Handle...

[FixitGuy]

The main problem with neat new weapons:

Sooner or later some traitor a$$-O will sell the technology to your enemy and you end up looking down the barrel of your own weapon.

Wish there was an end to that...

NO I'm not advocating disarmament!!!

[EternalVigilance]

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men...-Revelation 13:11-13

Amazing how John knew about this stuff almost 2000 years ago... ;-)

[EternalVigilance]

Sorry. You posted yours while I was typing mine....I guess great minds DO think alike! :-)

[Grut]

"The return of Puff."

For the "don't ask, don't tell" military, how about "Poof?"

[section9]

The United States government first started experimenting with lasers in the early nineteen sixties. The Russians were working along the same lines, but never had the kind of resources that we had to do the same things.

The problem, as the article highlighted, was power supply miniaturization. Now a recent article that we saw posted to FR spoke of an Air Force R&D project to build an airborne atomic reactor. Now why would anyone want to build an airborne reactor just so it could fit it into a widebody?

Do the math, folks. Imagine a COIL or one of more elaborate devices with the punch of a small nuclear reactor to provide power.

THEL has been around for some time.

....so long that the services spend advertising dollars hawking their supposed skills at THEL to the Pentagon and the Congress.

I strongly suspect that there are far more elaborate black projects underway, possibly involving plasma weaponry. And yes, the Stealth that crashed in Serbia back in 1999 was an older model: the new stuff is so far out we have no idea as to its capabilities (personally, I think that we've been testing manned hypersonic vehicles for some time now). One of the most talked about vehicles is something called "AURORA", which is supposedly an urban legend that got its start when the name appeared as an Air Force line item back in the eighties. However....

....while our friend AURORA may be named something else altogether, there is a general consensus that the SR-71 isn't in the spy plane business anymore for a dadgum good reason. It's been replaced, and probably by something like the aircraft pictured above, which is said to move at suborbital heights and at hypersonic speeds.

In short, there is a LOT of wierd stuff out at Groom Lake. No one is allowed near there for a set of very good reasons. And of course, they also keep other things at Area 51....

Watch the Skies!

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[tet68]

Honest,I just saw this on the cover of popular Mechanics,

America's lazer fighting blimps bring death to terrorists from high altitude.

Honest,at the Kroger!

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Hey Saddam! Our planes are just taking pictures. Just smile for the camera and don't worry about that flash.

[Lancey Howard]

I just love this stuff.

And if this is what they're telling us about, imagine what we have that they aren't telling us about!

BUMP!!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping!

Next thing you know we will have airborne tankers
refueling the laser ships with their weaponry juice!

Sounds cool to me!

[Lancey Howard]

When I was at Penn State, I saw a guest lecturer by the name of Rennie Davis (remember him - - Chicago seven or something?). This was around 1973. He talked about US use of lasers in Vietnam and I just took him for goofy. But over the years, I have seen enough references to wonder if maybe we were indeed playing around with lasers back then.

[CJinVA]

Link to Airborne Laser

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OK!

Found this:

	What's a Tactical High-Energy Laser? By Frank Sietzen Special to SPACE.com posted: 12:02 pm ET 26 September 2000		Clinton Punts Defense Decision Circuitry Problem Blamed for Missile Defense Test Failure Force Fields and 'Plasma' Shields Get Closer to Reality Pentagon Missile Defense Test Fails
The laser beam system used to shoot down the two missiles during Friday's test is called a Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL). THEL is a short-range, ground-based air-defense system under test and development by TRW Inc. for the U.S. Army and the Israel Ministry of Defense. The device uses a high-energy, chemically-generated laser beam to shoot down rocket attacks. Israel has an urgent need to protect civilians and others living along its northern borders. The THEL laser system is housed in several semitrailer-sized containers. THEL is made up of three systems: a control system, which tracks the incoming missiles while in flight and is used to aim the laser system; a pointer-tracker system that contains the firing system and the laser itself -- a deuterium fluoride chemical laser. Other facts: Program development cost: $201 million Modified in January 1998 to include field testing ($97.5 million added to base contract) Contract is for a test version of the laser beam system only

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The THEL laser system is housed in several semitrailer-sized containers.

It's gonna be a full airplane!

[IronJack]

I saw a documentary on this laser system, but I thought it was carried aboard a modified passenger jet (727?). It's not perfect, since heavy cloud cover can deflect it, but it is a functional system, not just "Lost in Space" theory.

[IronJack]

That's the one I saw. It was a 747. Awfully bulky system, but still pretty nifty. Unless you're a towelhead on a slow camel ...