[King Prout]

"Star Wars", the sequel?

well, with the new chemical lasers, it might actually be feasible this time around

[martin_fierro]

[ANGGAPO]

The 747 is one big target. How about a SR-71?

[Thrusher]

Also needed: "Lasers" on sharks!

[Sax]

Just one piece of the puzzle:

[joesnuffy]

One tier defense is not enough....unproven high tech gadgets will not replace regular troops, Satellite and Air Surveilance,bombers, and nuke tipped ICBMs (targeted and ready to rock around the clock tonight).....all must be kept in the mix

imo

[usurper]

I am sorry, while this might seem like a good idea the logistics are overwhelming.

First we would need an extensive fleet of these things to maintain 24/7 coverage.

We would need at least two squadrons one for the ME and the other for North Korea, thats if we just ignore Russia and China.

IMHO, we need to be looking more at space based platforms, expensive to get up there but once in place give us significant years of hover time over a much larger area.

Anything that would fit into a 747 could be assembled, post deployment, to a space based platform. Flying plains around 24/7 just takes us back to the SAC days of the 60s.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

Excuse me? This is sheer pipe dreams. The atmospheric attenuation alone make the plane mounted laser highly unlikely there are however ship-born missiles that are capable of taking out ICBM prior to boost phase with ease. In fact they have been tested for the past few years. The only way for a high power laser to be effective as a anti ICBM deterrent is to be space born and to be in the 1,0E+12 or 1,0E+15 Wat range. The picture that is shown here is over 8 years old and was a proposal from Lockheed Martin and a conglomerate of other contractors. So unless they have figured out how to pump out a quadrillion WATS of power from a laser.... this is pure BS.

[hc87]

"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here! What do we have?"

[The Sons of Liberty]

One day, perhaps soon, some madman will launch a missile at the United States. If it is knocked down and millions of American lives are saved, we can thank Ronald Wilson Reagan for his foresight in pushing "Star Wars" and George Walker Bush for carrying through on that vision. I suspect even the likes of pelosi, kennedy, clinton, et al will be thankful, even if only secretly.