Airborne Laser ABL Executive Update 2008 Boeing 747 YAL-1

Courtesy: US Air Force

This is the older Executive Update, but it includes the information that everyone asked about with the laser targeting etc...

The United States Air Force awarded a team of Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin a $1.1 billion contract to develop and demonstrate a revolutionary laser weapon system to defend against the threat posed by theater ballistic missiles such as the Iraqi Scuds used during Desert Storm. Under the terms of the Program Definition and Risk Reduction (PDRR) contract awarded in November 1996, the three companies, working together as Team ABL, will build and test an Airborne Laser (ABL) weapon system mounted aboard a Boeing 747-400F aircraft. This system will be capable of destroying missiles carrying chemical, biological and nuclear warheads almost immediately after launch and before they would pose a threat to civilian populations and military assets.

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[CreationDominations]

Why not mount laser on satellite.. Death Star anyone?

[PierreRMB]

I'm so jealous. XD

In the video game EndWar, the Europeans have the lasers. I real life, the Americans do.

Well, I value our allience. Now, what can Europe have that America doesn't? ... We do need to stand on equal ground as allies, do we not? :D

[edbarr1128]

I want this video on my 6600 unit.

[geonerd]

It seems pretty trivial to harden a missile against laser light. Reflective and ablative surfaces, and spinning the missile to spread the heat over a much greater area would vastly reduce the laser's effectiveness.

[allrightsreserved88]

@CreationDominations The air in a somewhat similar fashion except in the lasers case the flow of charged particles is laminar thus creating a larger release of energy in a smaller and when i say smaller i mean quantifiable smaller radius. In space there is no median for the charged particles to excite because there is no atmosphere. And even if the beam did make it from space to a target terrestrial bound it would be dissipated by the earths magnetosphere and much of the energy would be lost

[allrightsreserved88]

@CreationDominations space is not because the technolgy could not be best applied on a plane or for that matter able to withstand the cold extremes of such an environment but because, these particular laser weapons get their energy by exciting the particles of energy in the median of air the pass through. Kind of like if i took a match and sprayed it with deodorant, it would intensify the flame like a flamethrower. The same is true for this laser technology. The charged iodine particles excite

[allrightsreserved88]

@CreationDominations Its a good idea but it wouldnt work. The way these lasers function are by Taking iodine stripping it of its protons and by directional wave guiding they phase shift the iodines protons through a series of 12 parabolic concave mirrors that intensify the charged particles 10 times through each mirror. Once the stream of particles enter the last mirror they naturally want to assimilate into a laminar beam. Thus creating an intense heat source. The problem with putting it in

[Thorium1996]

Previously, war was happening at mach 1 (or speed of sound) now its happening WITH SPEED OF LIGHT ?!!! enemy won't even know what happened, just po000fff ! and get VAPORISED !!!! great technology !

[chunkyfecalbreakfast]

"Lay zer"

[avilesj231]

@CreationDominations haarp

[KingOvDeWorld]

but terrorists don't have any missiles and they hide in caves...