North Korea Launch Vehicle On The Pad (Sat. Imagery)

Global Security ^ | 03/29/2009 | Global Security

[bygolly]

August 18, 2008 7:41 AM PDT

Invisible airborne laser also 'deniable'

by Mark Rutherford

 

New Scientist reports that both Cynthia Kaiser, chief engineer of the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate and John Corley, director of USAF's Capabilities Integration Directorate, used the phrase "plausible deniability" at industry briefings to describe one of the weapon's advantages, namely "that the US could convincingly deny any involvement with the destruction it causes".(PDF)

"The target would never know what hit them," John Pike, an analyst with defense think-tank Global Security told New Scientist. "Further, there would be no munition fragments that could be used to identify the source of the strike."

Besides the covert - plausible deniability angle, other pros to this 100KW-class high energy laser include "ultra speed of light engagement" and pinpoint accuracy, according to Boeing.(PDF)

Reference: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10018808-42.html