Posted on 12/12/2005 4:02:19 PM PST by Paul Ross
FYI
Hmm... but what would happen if the enemy warhead [and the body of the missile, if need be] are given high quality mirror finish/coating? These would not degrade by themselves until burning off on re-entry, i.e. uncomfortably close to the intended target.
The U.S.A.F. has to get this weapon system in service ASAP. There are way to many nuts in this world in possesion of nuclear tipped ballistic missiles.
Who said that StarWars was worthless?
Hopefully Congress continues funding this system through its development through its activation.
check this out.
Heck of a cigar lighter.....
My understanding is that a proper, effective mirror coating would add so much weight to the missle that it couldn't deliver an effective payload for a usable range.
Maybe Alamo-girl knows the details?
Not sure. The metal outer cover could be merely polished, with no weight increment. And a mirror reflecting only 95% of the falling light [i.e. rather lousy mirror] would be absorbing 16 times less energy than a "neutral grey" object. A better quality mirror would necessitate even higher laser beam power levels.
Well, ya know, those highway deal are real important, not to mention funding for the rock and roll museum...there may not be enough money in the budget with all the other real priorities...
Well, ya know, those highway deal are real important, not to mention funding for the rock and roll museum...there may not be enough money in the budget with all the other real priorities...
How about some operational tests over Iran????
Depends quite a bit on the wavelength of the laser beam. Not to mention, these things are mega-watt range. I doubt you could get anything through the atmosphere without picking up something. I work with industrial lasers every day, a fleck of dust on a lens is enough to cause a burn spot and wreck the lens. Scale that up to Mega-watt ranges and even water condensate on the surface of the missile has probably enough absorbtion to make the polish unimportant. We're talking about beam spots several feet across with mega-watts of energy. I know the mirrors in the lasers I deal with are Molbdnenum, tough as hell, but I suspect way too heavy and impossible to clad a missile with it. Anything else and the laser is just going to burn through it.
I suspect this has been taken into account by these guys, which is why it's SO powerful. Even if only a few percent gets absorbed, it's prolly way more that it would need.
I hear rumours that in White House there are voices to cancel the project. I hope it's not true. This is the very few of the only defense systems targeting the boost phase. ABL is our hope.
Besides, Essentially, adding tremendous weight and expense you mean? :-) The old anti-SDI crowd always made these silly arguments that the boosters could be 'hardened' against boost-phase attacks. Maybe if resources were infinite. Most of the major threats we see today operate on a shoe-string, however, from the Iranians, Pakistanis, North Koreans... Even the Chinese.
Only the Russians might be able to pull off something like that hardening as surmised.
As for the warhead, the system would not have any direct effect on that, as
Pat Shanahan of Boeing made it clear that this is is a boost-phase defense: "Proving the capability of this laser to operate at lethal levels of power and duration moves the system a major step closer to becoming a vital component of the nation's boost phase defense against a ballistic missile threat.
Boost-phase attack is the most attractive because it is the most vulnerable area of the missile system. It is a big flaring IR (InfraRed) signature, for one. Easily targetted. Second, it is extrordinarily vulnerable because it has to be kept thin and light just to get off the ground...or to deliver a payload worth the expense. Even the solid rocket boosters (such as China's brand spanking new "East Wind" DF-31) are at risk of destruction by an attack from this system. Their guidance rockets are typically liquid...
This way beyond cooking ants with a magnifying lens, ain't it?
Whatever happened to the "Rods from God" program?
I was talking about mirror polishing the outer skin, rather then adding a big mirror. That would not add weight.
Our old Atlas missiles had a bright aluminum skin, virtually a polished finish. That would have not protected them from this attack.
For the uninitiated, it calls for creating a system of metal poles, fired from space, that could strike anywhere on the planet. It's a long-held -- and long-ridiculed -- idea.
Keeping the rods from liquefying as they enter the atmosphere is a daunting task. In order to be considered effective weapons, the rods would need to be orbited at very low altitudes, and could only deliver one-ninth the destructive energy per gram as a conventional bomb.
Wouldn't this laser have to be so accurate that it only fires when it knows it will hit the target and immediately stop once the target is destroyed? If not, wouldn't this beam go on to destroy an unintended target?
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