Posted on 08/12/2003 10:21:16 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
When a laser successfully destroyed an artillery projectile in flight during a recent test, it was a first-time event, said U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command officials in Huntsville, Ala.
Over the New Mexico desert at the SMDC's High-Energy Laser Systems Test Facility, the Mobile Tactical High-Energy Laser, MTHEL, tracked, locked onto and fired a burst of protons at an artillery projectile, destroying it.
An artillery shell is roughly two feet long, compared to a rocket's 10 feet, and is much more difficult to hit because it gives off less heat.
The MTHEL Program, managed by USASMDC, is a collaborative program between the Army and Israel.
The test at White Sands Missile Range, N. M., was on of a series of tests that will be conducted to determine MTHEL capabilities. --SMDC Public Affairs Office
(Excerpt) Read more at army.mil ...
How nice that they've standardized them. I used to think they came in different sizes.
Think they meant "photons". Photons are light, protons are nuclear particles.
Wow! New tech. Proton laser death ray.
What's a "ZOT"?
Wait until a DU'er posts an article attacking the President or Republicans in general. You will see ZOTs and lightening pictures in the replies.
P.S. I did not say what I just said.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser program is transitioning to the Program Executive Office, Air and Missile Defense. A transition ceremony will be conducted Friday at 1 p.m. at the Sparkman Center’s Bob Jones Auditorium on Redstone Arsenal. The formal transition to the PEO AMD will be completed by Oct. 1, 2003.
Stemming from the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program initiated in 1996, the MTHEL program has recently seen great success as a technology demonstration within the SMDC Technical Center.
The THEL ACTD proved highly successful, intercepting and destroying twenty-six 122 mm Katyusha rockets in 2000 and 2001 and four 152 mm artillery projectiles in late 2002. These artillery projectiles were part of a new series of target threat assessments for the MTHEL program, which also conducted a multitude of static engagements on the ground.
The MTHEL Program is a collaborative development program between the U.S. Army and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. It will be designed to meet common U.S. and Israeli operational requirements, providing operational capability to address U.S. Army transformation objectives and to help with Israeli security requirements by providing a defense against short-range missiles, rockets and other air defense threats.
This transition marks a major milestone in the evolution of the MTHEL to an acquisition program in the Army. While this is a normal process in the Army, it illustrates the great success of the program and shows how high energy laser technology has reached a level of maturity that indicates it is now ready to be integrated into the next phase of the process, moving it closer to the battlefield.
The ceremony will include award presentations by Maj. Gen. John M. Urias, SMDC Deputy Commanding General of Research, Development and Acquisition and the Program Executive Officer, Air and Missile Defense. A reception will follow the event.
I knew if I held out long enough someone else would ask about ZOT - but what is a "DU'er"???? Some sort of malicious disrupter - judging from the context.
An infiltrator from Democrat Underground (= in my words, TOTAL IDIOT).
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