US - Israeli Laser

soldierzhonor

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JERUSALEM - A laser weapon under joint Israeli-U.S. development destroyed a long-range rocket for the first time in a test in the skies over New Mexico, military spokesmen said Friday.

Israel has sought an effective defense against ballistic missiles since 1991 when Iraq launched Scuds into the Jewish state during the first Gulf War. It has since developed the Arrow anti-ballistic missile with U.S. funding.

“This is a significant step forward,” an Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman said of Tuesday's test of the Nautilus Tactical High Energy Laser, conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Israel sees the Nautilus as another potential countermeasure to possible ballistic attack by enemies, which would include most Arab states and Iran. In turn, those nations see Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal as the biggest strategic threat to the region.

The Nautilus laser is being developed mainly by Northrop Grumman Corp. with the help of several Israeli high-tech firms specializing in optics and military hardware.

“The project has the potential to fill an important operational need for Israel,” said Shmuel Keren, the Israeli military’s director of weapons systems and infrastructure development. “The system can answer our need for a system which can intercept missiles and cruise missiles for which currently there is no effective solution.”

The Israeli Defense Ministry declined to elaborate on the test or the exact range of the intercepted missile. However, Pam Rogers, a U.S. Army spokeswoman in Huntsville, Ala., said the deuterium fluoride chemical laser destroyed an 11-foot-long, 6-inch-diameter (3.3-meter long, 15-centimeter-diameter) rocket.

In earlier tests the Nautilus laser had successfully eliminated 28 short-range Katyusha rockets and five artillery shells in flight as well as several “hostile objects” on the ground.

Northrop Grumman could deliver a mobile prototype by 2007 or 2008 if it gets a contract this summer, company spokesman Bob Bishop said from Redondo Beach, Calif. The project appears in the U.S. defense budget for fiscal 2004 with a $56 million allocation, he said.

© 2004 MSNBC Interactive


wonder when it'll get commissioned....
 
yea, that too lol thanks. I seen an article in Soldiers Magazine about 6 months ago on it, did a search and seen the msnbc article. I wonder if it'll be adapted for both the HEMMIT trailer design shown and the MLRS chassis shown?
 
hmmm

Well I dont think a good ole :biggun: can shoot down a SCUD missile or Katyusha rocket in midair...
 
If it comes to that, I want a good old bomb shelter for me and the Laker Girls.


That looks like one hell of a weapon. These R&D guys are in a world of their own, I don't even understand half the technology that came out in the 80's, let alone this Superman Laser System. :lol:
 
Just a little more info

Most people tend to think lasers kill by literately burning the missile up. It doesn’t always work that way

Lasers (it is hoped) will kill or deter inbound targets by:

1. Shock of strike. basically high temperature energy hitting extremely space cooled ("it is very cold in space" - Noonian Khan) parts of missile, shattering part of the shell by the rapid expansion and allowing the in-continuity of the deformed body coming along at mach 5 plus to do the rest (like the Columbia tragedy, only faster)

2. Burn through and ignition or release of the residual propellant or pressurization gases used to launch a liquid propellant missile. Resulting expansion eats the missile.

3. Burn through and detonation of the explosive part of the warhead (yes, eve thermo-nuclear devices have chemical explosives in them).

4. Close pass disruption of signal to the on-board electronics by imparting of energy other than light (effects the guidance package...you wouldn’t believe how much radio-frequency and magnetic energy is produced as the beam itself ionizes the air and molecules in front of it). Course disruption of guidance signal to vanes may cause course veer...puts missile nose cone at awkward re-entry angle and causes burn up.

5. Direct burn-off of guidance vanes (this would be like slagging it all down...lots of energy needed).

6. And my final favorite...scaring them so much as to its greatness that they don’t try to launch it all.



:D
 
"(Dax)Romulans,are attacking,captain kirk,what should we do.(Kirk)Line up front proton torpedo tubes and get phaisers online.Prepare for battle" :lol:
 
Marksman said:
"(Dax)Romulans,are attacking,captain kirk,what should we do.(Kirk)Line up front proton torpedo tubes and get phaisers online.Prepare for battle" :lol:


:?: :? What the devil are you talking about?
 
Gotcha, never had a tv before last year, never seen a Star Trek episode, sorry.

Alright, back on topic.....
 
I'm not joking. (I've been making up for it this past year though :lol: .)


Alright, seriously, back on topic....
 
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