Friday, February 12, 2010

Airborne Laser Destroys a Ballistic Missile in Flight

The successful test firing of the Advanced Tactical Laser a stationary target, moving target, airborne target, and missile in flight, has been surpassed with the successful strike against a ballistic missile. A real laser based missile shield system could become a reality in the relative short term as long as the program can keep off the chopping block.

http://www.mda.mil/news/10news0002.html

"At 8:44 p.m. (PST), February 11, 2010, a short-range threat-representative ballistic missile was launched from an at-sea mobile launch platform. Within seconds, the ALTB used onboard sensors to detect the boosting missile and used a low-energy laser to track the target. The ALTB then fired a second low-energy laser to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbance. Finally, the ALTB fired its megawatt-class High Energy Laser, heating the boosting ballistic missile to critical structural failure. The entire engagement occurred within two minutes of the target missile launch, while its rocket motors were still thrusting.

This was the first directed energy lethal intercept demonstration against a liquid-fuel boosting ballistic missile target from an airborne platform. The revolutionary use of directed energy is very attractive for missile defense, with the potential to attack multiple targets at the speed of light, at a range of hundreds of kilometers, and at a low cost per intercept attempt compared to current technologies.
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