Airborne laser weapon sails through tests

[jesus]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16675-video-airborne-laser-weapon-sails-through-tests.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news


The Pentagon may soon have a new anti-missile weapon - a high-powered laser fired from the nose of a large jet plane to destroy missiles soon after they leave the ground.

scary stuff

[efq]

I saw this a few months ago on the discover channel, should be useful but very risky.

[xxMATTGxx]

Yeah heard this many months ago :). At least its getting somewhere :D

[GommeInc]

Soon the US will have weaponry similar to that of US army type in Command and Conquer Generals, which has anti-missle lasers. Sounds like it'll be useful, but hopefully whoever is behind the button of the laser will have it destroyed in the air, and not close to the ground.

[Jahova]

Hopefully Obama will accept this as it should be able to save lives.

[Immenseman]

Yeah could potentially be very useful.

[Jahova]

Yeah could potentially be very useful.
Indeed, it seems like we are getting closer to the things we see in comic books, such as giant lazers. Some of it scares me.

[Kipp]

Yeah could potentially be very useful.

Yep, It could be very useful in the furture and now.

[Niall!]

Hopefully Obama will accept this as it should be able to save lives.

Obama is going to become a dictator as it is, giving him this weapon will destroy any chance we have of stopping him.

[Jord]

Hopefully Obama will accept this as it should be able to save lives.


I agree

[PaintYourTarget]

Thing is at the moment it's nose mounted and looks like it can only hit missiles directly ahead of it. So, it's all good if a missile and it's course can be identified and the plane scrambled in time it can take it out but it's pretty useless when it comes to Air to Air or Surface to Air missiles which tend to be fired from behind the target and are much smaller - I guess it'd have to fly with fighter accompaniment.