DEWs(Russian Directed Energy Weapons)

The Russians are now boasting far advanced DEW(Directed Energy Weapons) with research starting in the 60's and moing into high precision prototypes by the 70's.

I thought I would post this as it seems the USA starting earlier in the decade made a concerted effort to advanced the study and deployment of DEW systems. Target day is between 2012 and 2015...The Russians boast a nearly 40 year advantage in research and development of these systems.

www.mnweekly.ru...

Russia ‘Had Laser Cannons Before U.S.’

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Russia started developing tactical laser weapons before the United States and has several prototypes of high-precision combat chemical lasers in its arsenal, a defense industry source said on Tuesday.

The Boeing Company said recently it had test-fired a high-energy chemical laser fitted aboard a C-130H aircraft for the first time. The successful ground tests, "a key milestone for the Advanced Tactical Laser Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program," took place on May 13 at the Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Commenting on the announcement, the Russian expert said: "We tested a similar system back in 1972. Even then our ‘laser cannon was capable of hitting targets with high precision."

"We have moved far ahead since then, and the U.S. has to keep pace with our research and development," he added.

Now I realize this is new Cold War propaganda...And none of this may be true...but what would you suppose the implications are if this assesment is indeed true?

Discuss.

[edit on 30-8-2008 by projectvxn]

Russian scientists have always been more open minded regarding to Tesla's work (he invented the particle weapons) and other areas westerners arrogantly call 'pseudoscience', so I wouldn't be surprised if they really are 40 years in advantage...

Modern western mainstream science looks to me like dogmatic Inquisition of the Dark Ages, where instead of torturing people they use ridicule (and other sophisticated means) to dismiss new ideas and theories, hence progress...

An unnamed source has confimed this for me. And brought up a few questions...Did the Challenger or Columbia shuttles fall victim to Russian laser weapons rather than a UFO explanation? There have been some reports that both shuttles' experienced some sort of thermal damage PRIOR to their respective explosions, in a relatively small area...Makes me wonder.

[edit on 30-8-2008 by projectvxn]

To quote former programs Director of Los Alamos national laboratory, Ret. Col. John Alexander, no, the US has been working on such weapons for at least the past 30-40 years.



[edit on 30-8-2008 by West Coast]

Originally posted by West Coast
To quote former programs Director of Los Alamos national laboratory, Ret. Col. John Alexander, no, the US has been working on such weapons for at least the past 30-40 years.



[edit on 30-8-2008 by West Coast]

And yet we have only been able to actively deploy these systems in a productive way within the past decade. If they(Russians) have been capable of this by the 1970's it is safe to say that they have been working on it for about 30- 40 years longer than when we even bothered to start. We may actually be playing catch up to the Russians on this issue.

The Viability of Directed Energy Weapons(DEWs)
www.heritage.org...

In reference to the Tactical High-Energy Laser (THEL)

The two U.S. laser weapons systems closest to actual deployment are the Tactical High-Energy Laser (THEL) and the Airborne Laser (ABL). Development of the THEL began in 1996 as a joint program between the United States and Israel to develop a laser system capable of shooting down Katyusha rockets, artillery, and mortar shells. The THEL system uses radar to detect and track incom­ing targets. This information is then transferred to an optical tracking system, which refines the target tracking and positions the beam director. The deu­terium fluoride chemical laser fires, hitting the rocket or shell and causing it to explode far short of its intended target.[8] In August 2004, the THEL system shot down multiple mortar rounds during testing. However, the Army felt the fixed-base laser system was too large and cut funding for the program after the demonstration phase. Research was also conducted on a mobile version of the THEL called the MTEL.[9]

I honestly believe Russia has made some seriously major advances in this. I'm from South Africa, and the US had no clue we had this type of technology already in 80's... So how much do they know about Russia?

See this article, for info on the event that took place in SA:

http://j_kidd.tripod.com/b/65.html

Also this ATS thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Here, "Jo" says that's how the US found out about it, and got the Idea of mounting this onto a 747. I can't validate that in any way. I did however used to go hunting with a guy that was in the "Koevet" (Crazy bastards those - killing machines) and he told me that this Thor-2 laser was real. Obviously he couldn't say more, but I believed the man. I trusted him with my life, and the African bush, that is what one needs.

PS - Do a google on Koevet if you want to read more, I just don't have time now to link anything.

Also, I have 2nd cousin who flew mirages in the border war. He once told me that the weapons systems SA had were far more advanced that any one knew (like the G5 and G6 cannons). He now flies for a major European airline, and I'm not willing to say who.

Hope you found this interesting

Sorry, I misspelled it, it's Koevoet.

Here's a link:

www.doj.gov.za...

Sorry if it's off topic guys, don't mean to hijack the thread in anyway

Well since the russians are so much more advanced how about they prove it and test a current one. The russians are theoretically ahead of the west in everything according to some.

reply to post by projectvxn


what the russians are saying is true ....

www.abovetopsecret.com...&mem=manson_322

yes, its a well documented fact , check out truck based MLTK lasers designed to destroy cruise missiles

soviets had used lasers in sino-soviet war of 1969

Although infrared weapon technology is not widely discussed in the West, the Soviet infrared beam weapon is nothing new and was already used during a Soviet dispute with China in 1969 to destroy "a wall" at the Ussuri River, which separates Manchuria from Russia's Far East, according to the physicist.
----
There are indications, according to the physicist, that such a weapon was used when the KAL plane was shot down over Kamchatka (Soviet Union) in September 1983. In the early 90s, this technology returned to scientific discussions in the West and the technology itself appears to have been transferred from the Soviet Union.
www.serendipity.li...

A former East German physicist who studied Soviet infrared technology and plasmoids during the 60s and 70s, and who was directly involved in a demonstration of a Soviet laser beam weapon in 1991 for the U.S. Air Force in Weimar (DDR)
www.serendipity.li...

in fact , the tech for THEL was obtained by sceintists of USSR , who emgrated to USA and israel

and yes , the claims of use of DEW for the downing of KAL 007 in 1983 in kamchatka peninsula are verifed by the book psychotronic Golgotha , which has some brief discussion on various soviet directed energy weapon applications , but is mainly concerned with its mind control applications

you could order the book ,psychotronic Golgotha , though it is available in Russian language

mindjustice.org...

here , are the pics of mltk laser truck and its tests in 80's:
on a plane , (project was suspended by in 1987-90 after possibly INF treaty)





Test:


www.militaryphotos.net...


DIA artwork of MLTK laser:

www.militaryphotos.net...

here is some statement by Edward Teller(nuclear physicst) on soviet nuclear reactor pumped Proton Beam laser

Edward Tellar , (the father of american hydrogen bomb) himself stated that soviets were ahead of USA in laser development by a decade

Radar and Laser Beams
The Soviet radar station in Krasnoyarsk has been completed. That radar will show how our missiles approach. The information can be handed out to the SA-12s, which will make a good defense after retaliatory missiles have reentered the atmosphere.

We are approaching the point where mutually assured destruction is not only a terrible idea, but it won't even work. We are allowing our forces of retaliation to become obsolete.

The Soviets have worked for at least 10 years on lasers -- high intensity lasers which can be directed so accurately that in 1000 miles, the spread of the beam will be no more than five feet. We have seen at least one published deployment of such lasers in the Soviet Union on the military test site of Shari Shagan on the shores of Lake Baikal. I suspect that this is not the only one. We act as though the ABM Treaty were a reality.
www.commonwealthclub.org...

on soviet nuclear lasers for ASAT and potential anti-ICBM purpose
(USA has no counterpart of it till now )

Text
Starting at the end of the 1960s, the Russians also developed ground-based nuclear laser systems for combating spacecraft. Unlike the American x-ray lasers, they could be used several times over. The programme was terminated after the USSR announced a unilateral moratorium on trials of the space defence system and the puzzling deaths of the two project managers in the mid-1980s.

The mobile Pamir-SU electro-generator, with an output of 15MW and a mass of around 20t, could supply power to long-range lasers and ultra-high-frequency weapon systems. It could be used both on the Earth and also in space.
www.flug-revue.rotor.com...

theres a czech language source on soviet use of laser weapons in 1969 sino-soviet war :

here :
www.military.cz...

The USSR's high-energy laser program, which dates from the mid-1960s, is much larger than the US effort. They have built over a half dozen major R&D facilities and test ranges, and they have over 10,000 scientists and engineers associated with laser development. They are developing chemical lasers and have continued to work on other high-energy lasers having potential weapons applications - the gas dynamic laser and the electric discharge laser. They are also pursuing related laser weapon technologies, such as efficient electrical power sources, and are pursuing capabilities to produce high-quality optical components. They have developed a rocket-driven magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator which produces 15 megawatts of short-term electric power - a device that has no counterpart in the West. The scope of the USSR's military capabilities would depend on its success in developing advanced weapons, including laser weapons for ballistic missile defense.
www.fas.org...

In 1983 flight trials of the approximately 60t laser device commenced on an Ilyushin Il-76MD heavylift transport. At the same time research was being carried out on the propagation of laser beams in the atmosphere.
www.flug-revue.rotor.com...

flug revue sources , i had found on physics forum , and
its a German MSM source

also a statement by Samuel Cohen,the inventor of neutron bomb..on a nuclear powered Soviet Plasma weapon Development in 80's

interview of Mr.Cohen(developer of Neutron bomb)

Already, Cohen reported, the Russians have a sophisticated nuclear-based missile defense system around Moscow and possibly elsewhere. According to published intelligence reports, in the late 1980s the Russians began developing a "plasma weapon" for missile defenses. The plasma weapon uses nuclear energy to ionize the atmosphere, destroying or rendering inoperable any missiles passing through the plasma field.
www.manuelsweb.com...

soviets created the Pamir-ZU for such superfrequency lasers

The mobile Pamir-SU electro-generator, with an output of 15MW and a mass of around 20t, could supply power to long-range lasers and ultra-high-frequency weapon systems. It could be used both on the Earth and also in space.
www.flug-revue.rotor.com...

soviets also had plans in 80's to create even more powerful mobile electro-generator (of about 70 MW for anti-ICBM purpose in Space)

[edit on 3-9-2008 by manson_322]

Re: South Africa having 'advanced' laser weaponry; having seen the crude & bulky South African nukes which were primitive 'gun-type' uranium weapons I seriously doubt SA had any advanced weapons.

But just to be fair lets look at the credibility of the testimony we've been fed by user tortoisekweek: i.e. Let's just look at the report about SA having 'shot-down' a UFO using a so-called "advanced" 'Thor-II'. He/She points us to link: http://j_kidd.tripod.com/b/65.html where we have a story describing the incident.

Let's look at some of the inconsistencies:

-UFO is travelling @ 5746 nautical miles per hour
OK!

-SA pilot flying in MIRAGE light combat interceptor fires mythical Thor-II laser canon at UFO
WOW! AMAZING HOW THOSE SUPER ADVANCED AFRIKANERS WERE ABLE TO MINITURIZE A 6 TONNE HIGH ENERGY LASER WEAPON (which is the size of russian & us HELs) TO FIT ON SMALL MIRAGE INTERCEPTOR :

-UFO is hit (somehow)
QUITE A MIRACLE WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT SA EVEN THE USA & RUSSIA DONT HAVE TARGETTING TECHNOLOGY THAT WOULD ALLOW A LASER TO BE TRAINED ON AN OBJECT MOVING THAT FAST (OVER 5000 MPH) FROM GROUND BATTERY LET ALONE FROM A MOVING MIRAGE AIRCRAFT. (remember even in Ronald Reagan's SDI initiative incoming missiles could only be targetted during booster phase not the terminal phase (i.e. when the warheads would be travelling over 5000 mph)

-UFO starts "wavering" dropping altitude at 3000 feet/minute (while still moving at >5000 naut-mph)

-UFO angles downward @ 20degrees & 2 minutes later UFO crashes in 80 km away from spot where it was hit by the mythical laser weapon into the Kalahari desert (again at an incredible 5000plus mph & downward vector of 3000ft/min)
WAIT A MINUTE, IF THE CRAFT IS TRAVELLING @ 5000MPH & THEN HITS THE GROUND 2MINUTES LATER IT SHOULD HAVE TRAVELLED OVER 300km, OH SHUCKS MAYBE THE LAW OF PHYSICS CHANGED SUDDENLY

-UFO is miraculously not utterly vaporized, neither is the surrounding area turned into molten slag
THIS DESPITE THE FACT THAT AN OBJECT WEIGHING 50 TONNES TRAVELLING AT 5-6000 MPH WOULD RELEASE AT LEAST 240 BILLION JOULES OF ENERGY IN A TENTH OF A SECOND UPON IMPACT.

-the UFO is found intact in a crater 120 m wide & 12 m deep miraculously it now embedded in the earth @45 degrees.
??? BUT I THOUGHT THE UFO WAS CRASHING INTO THE GRND AT 20 DEGREES, NOW SUDDENLY ITS AT 45 DEGREES - WOW MORE AFRIKANER VOODOO PHYSICS (or did somebody make a booboo) :

- apparently An intense magnetic and radioactive environment around object resulted in electronic failure in airforce equipment.
YET MIRACULOUSLY THE MIRAGE JET THAT KEEPS CIRCLING THE CRASH SITE DOESN'T SUFFER ANY FAILURES IN ITS ELECTRONIC FLY-BY-WIRE SYSTEMS & DOESN'T CRASH (oops another booboo)

-somehow SA personnel determine that the UFO is 50 metric tonnes in mass
GEE I WONDER HOW THEY FIGURED THIS OUT?

-surface of disk is flawless polished silver surface
HOW CLICHE... BUT WAIT A MINUTE IF THE SURFACE IS FLAWLESS AND POLISHED, SO WHERE DID THE MAGICAL LASER DO THE DAMAGE? NO BURN MARKS NO HOLES, NO MELT MARKS(oop u did it again - booboo!). HMM & HOW COULD THE CRAFT SURVIVE AN IMPACT THAT WOULD CREATED SO MUCH HEAT SO AT TO TURN ROCK INTO PLASMA (MILLIONS OF DEGREES HOT) YET SOMEHOW SUCCUMB TO SOME PUNY LASER (oops another gaffe)

-somehow the SA miracle military is able to crack open this material and lo and behold they find living Blue aliens with webbed & clawed hands.
WOW THOSE SA FOLKS ARE REAL MIRACLE WORKERS, THEY MANAGE TO CRACK OPEN A CRAFT MADE OF MATERIAL THAT SURVIVE (UNBLEMISHED) A MASSIVE KINETIC IMPACT WHEN HITTING THE GROUND @ 5000 MPH.
OH THIS IS RICH, NOT ONLY DO THE MANAGE TO GET IN THE UFO BUT THEY FIND INTACT LIVING ALIENS INSTEAD OF FLATTEN LIQUIFIED ALIEN MEAT (REMEMBER THAT THEY HIT THE GROUND @ 5000 MPH)

I think I'll stop at this point because because the 'story' keeps getting more & more ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, UFOs exist but this particular story is a joke.

Back in 1984 the US was testing airborne lasers with a pair of NKC-135s. They had many successful tests shooting down several AIM-9 missiles that were fired at the aircraft. They would also shoot the laser at targets painted on the side of the other aircraft to test the system. It worked, and it worked well, it was just too bulky and didn't have enough power at the time.

So is there in fact any solid evidence, all these links here are just hearsay and a fair degree of fantasy opinion mixed in.
As far as I know having lived in China and knowing a few people of a reasonably high rank, lasers were never deployed in the Sino-Soviet border conflict.
If the Soviets have been able to keep all this ecret then why not America as well. A 30-40 year lead is bollocks.

PS. If Russian laser tech is so advanced why haven't they deployed any operationally. The US will deploy a 100 kw solid state laser on the JSF within 10 years, what do the Russians have?

Originally posted by rogue1
So is there in fact any solid evidence, all these links here are just hearsay and a fair degree of fantasy opinion mixed in.
As far as I know having lived in China and knowing a few people of a reasonably high rank, lasers were never deployed in the Sino-Soviet border conflict.
If the Soviets have been able to keep all this ecret then why not America as well. A 30-40 year lead is bollocks.

PS. If Russian laser tech is so advanced why haven't they deployed any operationally. The US will deploy a 100 kw solid state laser on the JSF within 10 years, what do the Russians have?

I have to agree. Also the US has had plenty of "watchers", if you will, in the former Soviet Union and the modern Russia, not to mention all of the flip-flopping scientists do back and forth, why are we so far behind? I don't think we are. Maybe a little behind, or at the same place, but it isn't very plausible to say we're so far behind. Not because the US is better, but because there's too much information exchange between the two countries.

Although, I could be wrong.

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


Re: the link you supplied which claims that South Africa also possessed this technology; oh please give me a break! Having seen the crude & bulky South African nukes which were primitive 'gun-type' uranium weapons I seriously doubt SA had any advanced weapons.

Here's a line by line clarification of many inconsistencies in the story:
-UFO is travelling @ 5746 nautical miles per hour
OK!

-SA pilot flying in MIRAGE light combat interceptor fires mythical Thor-II laser canon at UFO
WOW! AMAZING HOW THOSE SUPER ADVANCED BOER scientists WERE ABLE TO MINITURIZE A 6 TONNE HIGH ENERGY LASER WEAPON (which is the size of russian & us HELs) TO FIT ON SMALL MIRAGE INTERCEPTOR :

-UFO is hit (somehow)
QUITE A MIRACLE WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT EVEN THE USA & RUSSIA DONT HAVE TARGETTING TECHNOLOGY THAT WOULD ALLOW A LASER TO BE TRAINED ON AN OBJECT MOVING THAT FAST (OVER 5000 MPH) FROM GROUND BATTERY LET ALONE FROM A MOVING MIRAGE AIRCRAFT. (remember even in Ronald Reagan's SDI initiative incoming missiles could only be targetted during booster phase not the terminal phase (i.e. when the warheads would be travelling over 5000 mph)

-UFO starts "wavering" dropping altitude at 3000 feet/minute (while still moving at >5000 naut-mph)

-UFO angles downward @ 20degrees & 2 minutes later UFO crashes in 80 km away from spot where it was hit by the mythical laser weapon into the Kalahari desert (again at an incredible 5000plus mph & downward vector of 3000ft/min)
WAIT A MINUTE, IF THE CRAFT IS TRAVELLING @ 5000MPH & THEN HITS THE GROUND 2MINUTES LATER IT SHOULD HAVE TRAVELLED OVER 300km, OH SHUCKS MAYBE THE LAW OF PHYSICS CHANGED SUDDENLY

-UFO is miraculously not utterly vaporized, neither is the surrounding area turned into molten slag
THIS DESPITE THE FACT THAT AN OBJECT WEIGHING 50 TONNES TRAVELLING AT 5-6000 MPH WOULD RELEASE AT LEAST 240 BILLION JOULES OF ENERGY IN A TENTH OF A SECOND UPON IMPACT.

-the UFO is found intact in a crater 120 m wide & 12 m deep miraculously it's now embedded in the earth @45 degrees.
??? BUT I THOUGHT THE UFO WAS CRASHING INTO THE GRND AT 20 DEGREES, NOW SUDDENLY ITS AT 45 DEGREES - WOW MORE BOER VOODOO PHYSICS (or did somebody make a booboo) :

- apparently An intense magnetic and radioactive environment around object resulted in electronic failure in airforce equipment.
YET MIRACULOUSLY THE MIRAGE JET THAT KEEPS CIRCLING THE CRASH SITE DOESN'T SUFFER ANY FAILURES IN ITS ELECTRONIC FLY-BY-WIRE SYSTEMS & DOESN'T CRASH (oops!)

-somehow SA personnel determine that the UFO is 50 metric tonnes in mass
GEE I WONDER HOW THEY FIGURED THIS OUT?

-surface of disk is flawless polished silver surface
HOW CLICHE... BUT WAIT A MINUTE IF THE SURFACE IS FLAWLESS AND POLISHED, SO WHERE DID THE MAGICAL LASER DO THE DAMAGE? NO BURN MARKS NO HOLES, NO MELT MARKS(oop - booboo!). HMM & HOW COULD THE CRAFT SURVIVE AN IMPACT THAT WOULD CREATED SO MUCH HEAT SO AT TO TURN ROCK INTO PLASMA (MILLIONS OF DEGREES HOT) YET SOMEHOW SUCCUMB TO SOME PUNY LASER (oops another gaffe)

-somehow the SA miracle military is able to crack open this material and lo and behold they find living Blue aliens with webbed & clawed hands.
WOW THOSE SA FOLKS ARE REAL MIRACLE WORKERS, THEY MANAGE TO CRACK OPEN A CRAFT MADE OF MATERIAL THAT SURVIVE (UNBLEMISHED) A MASSIVE KINETIC IMPACT WHEN HITTING THE GROUND @ 5000 MPH.
OH THIS IS RICH, NOT ONLY DO THE MANAGE TO GET IN THE UFO BUT THEY FIND INTACT LIVING ALIENS INSTEAD OF FLATTEN LIQUIFIED ALIEN MEAT (REMEMBER THAT THEY HIT THE GROUND @ 5000 MPH)

I think I'll stop at this point because because the 'story' keeps getting more & more ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, UFOs exist but this particular story seems totally unbelievable

reply to post by LokiAsgardian



I agree wholeheartedly. There are stories presented in the media about this kind of technology all the time, and any decent researcher would poke holes in some of these stories within minutes of reading them. DEW technology, though it has a 60+ year history around the world, is still in developmental stages, and to assume that a UFO travelling thousands of miles per hour could be shot down by a weapon that is preliminary in development, even in the US, is just plain ludicrous. Especially in the context of South Africa as a military force.

Originally posted by rogue1
So is there in fact any solid evidence, all these links here are just hearsay and a fair degree of fantasy opinion mixed in.
As far as I know having lived in China and knowing a few people of a reasonably high rank, lasers were never deployed in the Sino-Soviet border conflict.
If the Soviets have been able to keep all this ecret then why not America as well. A 30-40 year lead is bollocks.

PS. If Russian laser tech is so advanced why haven't they deployed any operationally. The US will deploy a 100 kw solid state laser on the JSF within 10 years, what do the Russians have?

Why are you saying the U.S.'s statements about DEW are also "BULLOCKS?" your reading the same from the U.S. side, you just don't want to accept Russia is ahead as far as I see it!

Originally posted by Gehennasoul

Originally posted by rogue1
So is there in fact any solid evidence, all these links here are just hearsay and a fair degree of fantasy opinion mixed in.
As far as I know having lived in China and knowing a few people of a reasonably high rank, lasers were never deployed in the Sino-Soviet border conflict.
If the Soviets have been able to keep all this ecret then why not America as well. A 30-40 year lead is bollocks.

PS. If Russian laser tech is so advanced why haven't they deployed any operationally. The US will deploy a 100 kw solid state laser on the JSF within 10 years, what do the Russians have?

I have to agree. Also the US has had plenty of "watchers", if you will, in the former Soviet Union and the modern Russia, not to mention all of the flip-flopping scientists do back and forth, why are we so far behind? I don't think we are. Maybe a little behind, or at the same place, but it isn't very plausible to say we're so far behind. Not because the US is better, but because there's too much information exchange between the two countries.

Although, I could be wrong.

You are 100% wrong in my opinion.

Originally posted by projectvxn
The Russians are now boasting far advanced DEW(Directed Energy Weapons) with research starting in the 60's and moing into high precision prototypes by the 70's.

I thought I would post this as it seems the USA starting earlier in the decade made a concerted effort to advanced the study and deployment of DEW systems. Target day is between 2012 and 2015...The Russians boast a nearly 40 year advantage in research and development of these systems.

www.mnweekly.ru...

Russia ‘Had Laser Cannons Before U.S.’

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Russia started developing tactical laser weapons before the United States and has several prototypes of high-precision combat chemical lasers in its arsenal, a defense industry source said on Tuesday.

The Boeing Company said recently it had test-fired a high-energy chemical laser fitted aboard a C-130H aircraft for the first time. The successful ground tests, "a key milestone for the Advanced Tactical Laser Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program," took place on May 13 at the Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Commenting on the announcement, the Russian expert said: "We tested a similar system back in 1972. Even then our ‘laser cannon was capable of hitting targets with high precision."

"We have moved far ahead since then, and the U.S. has to keep pace with our research and development," he added.

Now I realize this is new Cold War propaganda...And none of this may be true...but what would you suppose the implications are if this assesment is indeed true?

Discuss.

[edit on 30-8-2008 by projectvxn]

Yes it's VERY true here's a quote & link:

" The Soviet response was immediate. Yuri Andropov ordered additional funding and implementation of Fon-2. At the same time Soviet diplomatic initiatives were undertaken. A proposal was made to the Unite States to ban all space-based weapons. Andropov declared a unilateral moratorium on testing of the improved IS-MU ASAT. As a 'warning shot' the Terra-3 complex was used to track the STS-41-G [SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER] with a low power laser on 10 October 1984. This caused malfunction of on-board equipment and temporary blinding of the crew, leading to a US diplomatic protest."
www.astronautix.com...

Here's some other sources that'll blow your mind away:
1. catless.ncl.ac.uk...
2. www.g2mil.com...
3. www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil...
4. www.heritage.org...
5. www.au.af.mil...
6. www.flug-revue.rotor.com...


[edit on 1-11-2008 by 1000hanz]

[edit on 1-11-2008 by 1000hanz]

I may be missing something, but, how does pointing out a fairly well-known news article about Russia's ability to create a _strong_ [relative to that time period, anyway. I believe MIRACL still had higher output? Regardless, land-based immobile lasers are pointless except maybe in a defensive role in the extreme] DEW have to do with a mythical "fourty year head-start". Let alone some folk's denial here that we've never had scientists swap around. Particularly in the nuclear field, which is highly related to DEW research.

Good heavens, post Soviet-Union it was like Operation Paperclip all over again.

Do I believe the U.S. has a significant advantage in DEW, or at-least it's most applicable forms? Yes.
Do I believe Russia was on par, or even better than the U.S. for a period? Sure.

Do I believe that currently, they are doing better, much less decades ahead?
No.
And it'd be absurd to do so.

why should we care, just drop an emp in the area, land or space and problem solved.