Airborne laser shoots down missile in test, Pentagon says

Airborne laser shoots down missile in test, Pentagon says

It took just a few seconds for the beam to create a stress fracture in the missile, causing it to split into pieces, the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said. Pentagon officials declined to say how far the aircraft was from the missile, saying the information was a military secret. But analysts have said the distance may have been about 100 miles.

Here is the link to the story recently printed: www.latimes.com...

I know there has been knowledge of Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) in the past, but just a day ago the Pentagon states they shot down an actual missile instead of a few puny mortar rounds. I think this is definitely interesting since the verge of laser weaponry looked rather gloomy when all the funding was cut. I personally think this technology is a wonderful idea.

Here is some other information on energy weapons in case your interest is perked:

www.kirtland.af.mil...

www.heritage.org... (this is an older article but it kind of precedes the newer article I posted with nice outlines for all sorts of energy weapons)

Anyone else think it's worth it for governments to flood some additional funding into these programs? Or are we simply dreaming of setting our phasers to stunning?

Maybe I'm being simplistic.. but.. if you just polished your missile to a mirror surface.. wouldn't that defeat this system? I mean a laser would work for a while, until weapons producers start making their missiles shiny.

reply to post by ZombieOctopus


Haha definitely point taken there, it'll be interesting to watch what will happen in the future...

A beam so strong it could annihilate reflective surfaces? I doubt that.. still seems a little Hollywood...

Who knows; I love seeing new technology, and weapons tend to get a little more funding than most things so it's a fast paced environment to watch.

reply to post by Myollinir


That's what I was wondering..

Can you make a laser so powerful that the heat generated from the initial contact would melt a reflective surface before it was reflected? And by can you, I mean is it practical..

I guess it would come down to the duration of contact with the surface and what the reflective surface was.