The Airborne Laser Test Bed Missile Defense Agency From Popular Science:
The Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) – formerly known simply as the Airborne Laser – has endured a back-and-forth existence, at different times the darling of the MDA, at other times on the verge of catching the Pentagon or Congressional axe. But after an all-around success in February, the scales have tipped back the other way for the embattled ICBM-blaster as it failed a critical test on September 1.
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My Comment: This is a big disappoint, and all but guarantees that this program will probably receive little if any funding in the future.
2 comments:
This is actually a program that needs to go.
The chemical LASER is a hellishly nasty bit of business that is - as you can see - unreliable and a witch's brew of toxic chemicals.
I would far rather see the money go towards what appear to be the very successful solid-state and free-electron LASER systems that are seeing battlefield use already.
The USN, in particular, is going to have a desperate need for these systems VERY soon.
Rather than working on trying to shoot down ICBM's in the boost-phase, which requires ranges in the thousands of miles, I'd rather see us work on the terminal phase and get that working reliably.
Orion
you need both - early and late take-down imo
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