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How It Works: The Airborne Laser Cannon
Last December, Boeing, under contract from the Department of Defense, installed a $200-million prototype of the laser into a C-130 at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico in preparation for test flights this year. From there it will go to the Air Force for more testing, and it could be in battle within five years.Precise control over the beams aim allows it to hit a moving target a few inches wide and confine the damage to that space. The Pentagon hopes such precision will translate into less collateral damage than even todays most accurate missiles. Future versions using different types of lasers could be mounted on smaller vehicles, such as fighter jets, helicopters and trucks. A death ray! This must be the twenty-first century! Posted by: Mike 2008-03-14 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=233316 |