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The reason the THEL cost so much per shot is that is has to use a chemical reaction to get the energy, because if a conventional power supply big enough to operate it was installed on the aircraft, it would be too heavy to get off the ground.

Hunh? did we read the same article?

"Though originally meant to be set up on permanent sites in Israel, the laser is now to be mobile, thanks to changing political realities...So, THEL researchers will be working to put the equipment on a vehicle that resembles a tractor-trailer. "

Doesn't sound like they *ever* meant to mount it on an aircraft...Also, I don't think a laser is like a flashlight, i.e. ya crank some 'lectricity in one end, and get a beam out the other- i think the actual mixture of gases lases itself.

The original concept was to mount the weapon in a 747. At least one, and possibly 3 were built. At one time the Israeli's had several open orders due to their dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of the Patriot system. For the laser to be effective against incoming ICBM's and smaller missles such as the SCUD, it has to be airborne in case there is cloud cover. The 747 cruises above the cloud layer & does its work from there.

Other mobile ground based platforms may use the same system, but fixed mounted weapons can be connected directly to the power grid (if it is big enough) and may fire by standard electrical means.

Most lasers fire by means of an electrical flash tube, the light from which is then focused using various means, including CO2 or Xenon gas, artificial ruby rods, etc and then focused thru lenses to emit out one end of the device.