[bahblahbah]

Why don't we use laser's for missile defense on ships and cities? I would think applying the technology to those areas would be a lot easier than trying to mount it on an airplane.

[Tallguy]

Why don't we use laser's for missile defense on ships and cities? I would think applying the technology to those areas would be a lot easier than trying to mount it on an airplane.

Atmospheric absorbtion/refraction limiting the effective range? I'm guessing that these laser systems are strictly last-ditch point defense systems (THEL) or are mobile systems designed to nail a rocket early in it's boost-phase. There is talk that the F-35 will eventually mount a laser weapon. Evidently its engines, designed to power the shaft-driven lift fans, have enough surplus energy to power the laser.

[ThanhPhero]

If we can get it down to where we can put it on a small plane we can put a reall big one or a dozen by New York. Getting the cơling system right means we can house the city defenders in small structures instead of giant cooling towers.

[hopespringseternal]

Why don't we use laser's for missile defense on ships and cities? I would think applying the technology to those areas would be a lot easier than trying to mount it on an airplane.

Because mounting it on an airplane solves the problem of running out of ammunition. While the movies show aircraft blasting away with chainguns for minutes at a time, the truth is that ammunition tends to be heavy and aircraft go through it very quickly. Most aircraft, especially fighters, only have a few seconds of ammo.

Also, consider that you don't have to lead the target anymore and he can't evade your fire.

[Robert A Cook PE]

It's being done.

(Worked on the 3D models of several design, including the original THEL (Tactical HE Lasar) design.

What the writer also doesn't mention is the number of large fuel tanks needed to fire several hundred shots: think four pallet loads of tanks for a "permanent" missile defense "fort". Two more pallet containers for radios, radar search points, and computers.

Early (large) designs weren't really very "mobile" - that's why the USAF likes plane-mounted lasers: all the extra gear can be permanently mounted and aligned inside the C-135 airplane.

[Kozak]

Why don't we use laser's for missile defense on ships and cities? I would think applying the technology to those areas would be a lot easier than trying to mount it on an airplane.

The plan is for area defence on a big 747. The laser carrying AC takes up station near the threat country, say off the coast of North Korea, or Iran. When they launch the altitude of the plane gives them the ability to reach into the other guys territory and destroy the missle in boost phase, with the added benefit that the debris ( which may be radioactive, or have Bio or Chem weapons in it) falls onto the bad guys head.