Built in California!
REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Feb. 12, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) transitioned from science fiction to directed energy fact Feb. 11 when it put a lethal amount of 'light on target' to destroy a boosting ballistic missile with help from a megawatt-class laser developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation .
While ballistic missiles like the one ALTB destroyed move at speeds of about 4,000 miles per hour, they are no match for a super-heated, high-energy laser beam racing towards it at 670 million mph.<./I>
The speed of the beam is irrelevant. The difficult task is keeping it focused on the moving target long enough to do the job AND having enough power in the beam to get the job done. A pulsed beam is best as a steady beam can lose effectiveness as super-heated metal vapor blocks/reflects some of the beam. The first successful use of a weapons grade laser was accomplished by one of my co-workers in San Diego.
Built in California!
Indeed, great news :-) My most fervent hope is that any and all classified information pertaining to this and other related projects will STAY within proper hands in California and the USA, and will not be given to the Chinese as per Clinton's example or any other nation other than perhaps a long-term stalwart ally such as Great Britain. With Zero in the White House, I have a great fear that projects such as this will be terminated or that their data will be given away or sold as a bargaining chip or as simply a 'diplomatic gesture'.
We need a true edge against the missile threat, and further development of projects and technologies such as these could provide us with just that....if it's not squandered by an America-hating one-termer.