[News] Boeing Airborne Laser ‘shoots down’ first missile

[Moontanman]

Boeing Airborne Laser ‘shoots down’ first missile

 

On August 10, Boeing and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were finally able to demonstrate that the US$1.1 billion Airborne Laser (ABL) program actually works. The ABL aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400, took off from Edwards Air Force Base and located, tracked and fired on a target missile. Although a surrogate high-energy laser was used – rather than the megawatt-class laser that will ultimately arm it – instrumentation on the target verified the hit.

 

Boeing Airborne Laser ‘shoots down’ first missile

[Theory5]

finally they are able to justify their program costs, Ive been hearing about this for quite some time. So how soon will this be on every commerical airliner? :-P

[Pyrotex]

Aaaaaahhhhh...!

 

So they 'shot down' a 'missile' that was 'in flight' and 'destroyed it' thereby 'protecting' the 'city' it was 'aimed at'.

 

How 'interesting'. Obviously much 'progress' has been made with the marketing of this 'technology'.

[Moontanman]

Theory5, you misunderstand, this is not a system to be installed to protect the aircraft, although it could be employed to shoot down other aircraft and to missiles headed for this airplane. The system is so huge it occupies the entire inside of the air craft, this system is meant to be used in battle field conditions to shoot down missiles in the lift off stage such as the "scud" missiles of the gulf war.

 

Interestingly Pyro, this technology is rapidly becoming out dated and solid state lasers capable of fitting in a vehicle as small as a Humvee and used to shoot down incoming missile/rockets and or artillery shells, even mortars. Even lasers for fighter aircraft are being developed and may be on the market in as short a time span as 5 years.

 

The Boeing 747 laser platform is basically for shooting down theater based medium to short range missiles when they are under power. I am not sure it could shoot down an incoming ICBM war head.

[Pyrotex]

...Interestingly Pyro, this technology is rapidly becoming out dated and solid state lasers capable of fitting in a vehicle as small as a Humvee and used to shoot down incoming missile/rockets and or artillery shells, even mortars. Even lasers for fighter aircraft are being developed and may be on the market in as short a time span as 5 years. ...

Technology always becomes outdated, which is often a good thing. :hyper: As fate would have it, I was involved in designing the optics of a Laser Beam Pointing Mechanism (LBPM) for the Navy back in the 70's. It was used to merely detect and track incoming missiles, which would then be destroyed by other means, such as 20-mm rotary cannons.

 

However, even though it could NOT damage an incoming cruise missile, the reflection of the laser off any metal parts of the ship itself would blind anyone on deck not wearing protective eyewear. :eek: One of my studies was to design a way to mechanically prevent the laser from being fired if it might hit a cable or railing or other part of the ship. Some fun.

 

Now, I just happen to remember the power of that laser in Watts. It was a 3-digit number, and that's all I'm gonna say. The point is, the laser couldn't destroy a cruise missile, but it could potentially blind everyone on deck if the beam hit, say, an antenna cable. If the laser were to be fired while Joe Blow was cleaning the front lens, the liquid in Joe's eyeballs would be converted to super-heated steam in 10 milliseconds, causing a really bad day for him, his family, and the mortician burdened with trying to reconstruct Joe's face for the casket showing. :eek_big:

 

So, you say a Hum-V might soon carry a laser that IS capable of shooting down a cruise missile? It's power must be at least 10 to 100 times as great as the laser I worked with.

 

What's gonna happen to all the civilians who happen to be outside, within a radius of, say, two miles, when that laser beam reflects off the incoming cruise missile? Hmmmm???? :confused: :eek2: :evil:

[Moontanman]

What's gonna happen to all the civilians who happen to be outside, within a radius of, say, two miles, when that laser beam reflects off the incoming cruise missile? Hmmmm????

 

Good question and one this is not addressed in any of the articles I have read.

[Pyrotex]

Remember President Reagan's "Sky Shield" -- or whatever it was called? One of the components was a ring of monster laser projectors around the rim of the contiguous 48.

We gonna blass dem mumfuggers rat outa da sky!

 

So, like a good citizen, I wrote a dozen letters to various news groups, pointing out that megawatt lasers (or even kilowatt lasers) could permanently blind every living creature within a huge radius -- miles, maybe tens of miles -- around these projectors. I asked if any safety studies had been done. I asked if the consequences of firing a "heavy" laser had been tested -- across a broad range of frequencies.

 

I got no replies. Apparently decent folk just don't talk about those things. ;)

 

But it IS A FACT that in 1973, when I helped design a "targetting laser" for the Navy, that they made a new rule that TESTING & TRAINING for the new system would NOT include using "Targets of Opportunity" (airliners that happened to be flying overhead) -- which WAS standard practice in testing & training with other targetting systems, such as radar and infrared -- because of the liklihood of blinding the aircraft pilots (and the passengers).

[Moontanman]

That is a question I've never heard asked, would it matter if the laser was out of the range of eye sight? IE infrared or ultraviolet?

[Pyrotex]

Excellent question.

I do not know the answer.

The only data point that I have is that the "targetting laser" I worked on operated entirely in the Infrared -- it was not visible to the naked eye.