New weapon could mean the end of collateral damage

Insight Magazine ^ | 1/30/2006 | Insight on the news

[GEC]

New weapon could mean the end of collateral damage

The U.S. military has been developing a gunship that could literally obliterate enemy ground targets with a laser beam.

The military plans to test the Advanced Tactical Laser, a laser weapon mounted on a C-130H air transport that could destroy any weapon system without collateral damage.

The laser could have tremendous repercussions on the battlefield, particularly in urban warfare in such countries as Afghanistan and Iraq. "It's the kind of tool that could bring about victory within minutes," an official said.

The applications of ATL could change military dynamics on the battlefield. Officials envision the laser being able to destroy or damage targets in an urban area with virtually no collateral damage. The range of ATL was expected to be 10 miles.

The project has been headed by Boeing Missile Defense Systems in a project with the U.S. Air Force. Boeing has already taken delivery of the aircraft and plans to modify the platform for the ATL program.

Officials said a C-130H transport that belonged to the U.S. Air Force's 46th Test Wing was being modified to contain a high-energy chemical laser. The platform would also contain battle management and beam control subsystems.

Under the program, Boeing would test the aircraft in July 2006. The aircraft would have all subsystems on board except the high-energy laser. Officials said a low-power surrogate laser would be used instead of the kilowatt-class, high-energy laser.

At the same time, the high-energy laser would be completed in Albuquerque, N.M. Officials said the first ground tests of the laser would take place in the summer of 2006.

By 2007, Boeing plans to install the laser on the aircraft and operate the weapon during flight. The laser, designed to be fired through an existing 50-inch-diameter hole in the aircraft's belly, would be demonstrated for military missions.

Officials said ATL was being developed through the Pentagon's Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program. Should the tests in 2007 prove successful, the Pentagon was expected to approve full-scale development of the airborne tactical laser.

The ATL was deemed as complementary to the Airborne Laser program for the Missile Defense Agency. ABL was meant to mount a megawatt-class chemical laser on a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft.

[fso301]

a laser weapon mounted on a C-130H air transport that could destroy any weapon system without collateral damage.

No collateral damage can occur only if there was no fuel or ordinance aboard but then, what's the point in destroying it?

[Old Professer]

That's the way my old Lab was after I gave him worm medicine.

[yarddog]

About the only thing my old Lab does is lay around looking sick when I give him a worm treatment.

[appeal2]

I think we should start from one end of the middle east to the other and leave Israel. It would be a great improvement. Will it kill only people and leave the oil wells?

[robertpaulsen]

Their early work (Eye in the Sky, Time) reminds me of Chicago .

[El Gato]

In an unrelated story, enemies of the U.S. have begun purchasing mirrors in vast quantities.

They'll have to be very efficient mirrors. Common mirrors would absorb enough of the light to cause them to heat and shatter. Thus anyone hiding under them gets sliced and diced, then lazed into a crispy critter.

[El Gato]

Due to budget cuts, ill-tempered sea bass will be used.

Just go to Minnesota and get some female Muskies. You won't even need the laser.

[RichInOC]

Couldn't they have called it Zap On Target?

[El Gato]

Won't that leave the C-130 a juicy target for anyone with a SAM?

I'm sure the C-130 is the test bed platform. However if it's high enough, it's not that juicy a target, and the larger SAM systems will be it's first target, assuming the F-117s and F-35s haven't already put them out of action.

[R. Scott]

Just don’t point it at the wells or storage tanks.

[Tinman73]

Let's try it on the junk next to roadways in Iraq to explode IED's (hopefully while they are building them )

[Archytekt]

I rather doubt that he meant it would vaporize all of radical islam in one shot, lol

what do you think he meant?

[DocRock]

"ABL was meant to mount a megawatt-class chemical laser on a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft."

Now the left can scream that we are using banned Chemical Weapons. I'll just smile.

[brooklin]

Have you seen this yet?

[darth]

This means total air superiority in any conflict with a well-armed foe. It also means we can blind the enemy at great ranges. Watch for the anti-war weenies to argue that while its OK to blow the enemy's guts out, burn him to death, or bury him alive, lasing his retinas is unfair.

[Born to Conserve]

"I only have two more CDs to go before I own them all."

I wouldn't want to be like you.

[allen08gop]

Could have a "unique" effect on the leadership of an enemy nation if they suddenly start developing large holes in their heads at a family outing.

Just a thought.

[Sindarian]

We are out here, going to see Alan Parsons in St. Charles, MO. tomorrow. Have got everything but for the collection CDs, that includes Freudiana and Keats. Talk about hard to get.

[MindBender26]

Contrarian Opinion:

This is disaster for USAF. All our LandWar battle plans require that we first establish air supremacy, or at least air superiority. Imagine Gulf Wat One without the weeks of softening of Iraqi targets by air assets. Imagine Gulf War Two without the F-15s, F-16s and Apaches destroying Iraqi anything that moved.

Think about it. If we have this weapon system, the Russians can reproduce it quickly. There is nothing really special here. It's simply a bigger, better, badder laser. In other words, it's a ray gun.

The Russians will certainly sell it to others. If it can be mounted on a C-130, it can certainly be fitted into the back of a 5 ton all terrain truck. If its guidanvce-stabalization system is good enough to work from an A/C, it's certainly good enough to operate from a stopped truck. If it's powerful enough to destroy ground targets, it's certainly effective enough to knock the wing off a USAF A/C.

And when you're shooting at the speed of light, any woggie who has ever pointed a BB gun at a paper target can hit a passing A/C.

Not good.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Laughable post.