Saturday, June 23, 2007
More stuff I first read about in Chris Fox's excellent thriller, The Devil's Halo
Airborne Laser Aircraft Slated to Provide Missile Defense
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| A modified 747 aircraft serves as the prototype Airborne Laser, slated to become an integral part of the U.S. missile defense system. Air Force photo by Bobby Jones |
But what's revolutionary about the prototype Airborne Laser aircraft, which arrived last night after its first nonstop cross-country flight, is that it won't use bullets to take out its target, explained Air Force Col. John Daniels, program director.
It will use light.
"What makes this revolutionary is that you can engage targets at the speed of light - 186,000 miles per second," Daniels said. "So we can go from New York to Los Angeles before you can blink your eye. Think about that. You can't blink your eye faster than this weapon system or a beam of light goes across the country."
The Airborne Laser is being developed as an integral part of the ballistic missile defense system to protect the United States, its allies and its deployed troops against a ballistic missile attack, he explained. An advanced detection-and-tracking system, state-of-the-art optics and a high-energy laser would detect a missile launch and track it during the boost phase.
The world's largest turret assembly, encased in the glass-enclosed aircraft nose, would track the missile and determine a precise aim point. A laser would measure disturbances in the atmosphere and adjust the on-board optics to account for them.
Another laser would fire a beam - technically, a "megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser beam" - to zap the missile until it breaks apart...
More of this stuff can be found at the Missile Defense Agency. I remember people like Teddy Kennedy telling us that stuff like this could never work.
