Mobile Laser Weapon for Tactical Missile Defense

Originally posted by enaught
The obvious candidate still is to shoot down the 747, or why not use these lasers to shoot down jets and bombers? My best guess is that using lasers, especially in the air, is a ridiculous idea.

Well, if the 747 is airborne over the US and its Lasing & tracking a target on a distant continent then it could & would be protected by its own US defences. No-doubt it would have fighter escourt. Not to mention, countermessures like what Airforce1 has.

They are also now developing a LASER that will be able to shoot down satellites in orbit. (Could start a whole new thread here on anti-alien defence

Anyway, its unclear when it will be ready but think of the range and tracking that this would need to acomplish the task of shooting a speeding sattelite in orbit!

The Bush administration is seeking to develop a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would use beams of concentrated light to destroy enemy satellites in orbit.

The largely secret project, parts of which have been made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress in February, is part of a wide-ranging effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive…

The laser research… would take advantage of an optical technique that uses sensors, computers and flexible mirrors to counteract the atmospheric turbulence that seems to make stars twinkle.

www.defensetech.org/archives/cat_lasers_and_ray_guns.html