# Airborne laser shoots down missile...NT



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

The Airborne Laser, the one mounted on the 747 that the USAF developoed, shot down it's first ballistic missile today.

http://www.mda.mil/news/gallery_altb.html 

I follow this technology because on of the little boys that was around my house the whole time my son's were growing up...was one of the lead optics engineers on this gizmo.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Too cool! 

And you thought he'd never amount to anything, such a dreamer


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Lock phasers on target!


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## Mike O (Jan 2, 2008)

Very cool technology. One wonders where it was when North Korea's recent missile tests failed. I understand it is likely to be canceled to to limited effectiveness, very high cost, and other alternatives now available. 

Mike


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Cancelled so as not to upset Iran.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Mike O on 13 Feb 2010 07:49 AM 
Very cool technology. One wonders where it was when North Korea's recent missile tests failed. I understand it is likely to be canceled to to limited effectiveness, very high cost, and other alternatives now available. 

Mike 
Officially....it's now just a research and development program...and not an acquisition program. I'm pretty sure that some of the most senior folks in the Missile Defense Agency are damn surprised that it actually works...and doesn't blow up the 747. The big money goes into hit-to-kill missiles...cause there's lots of recurring costs (missiles) to make profit on. These damn death ray airplanes...well...they don't need as many...so you don't make as much profit. So...when you speak of limited "effectiveness"...it's very clear that is true when you're talking about "profit. 

I gotta say...that first video, taken from the cockpit of the 747...is just flat amazing to me.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Didnt they first propose this way back when Reagan was President?


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## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Mike:

First of all, super cool technology. But the technology* can't* stop *ALL* incoming missiles and just *a few incoming *missiles means a return to the stone age. 

Years ago I served in the Canadian military and in later years worked in the High Technology sector which has now moved to China.

As exciting as all this technology is, I often wonder if ALL humanity will be Atomic bombed back to the stone age.

It still amazes me that the USSR and the USA didn't end up frying the *world *during the COLD WAR. 

Canada as a nuclear *technical *power chose not to domestically build atomic bombs but contributed to NATO missile and atomic bomb technology. Canada lived under the protective nuclear umbrella of Great Britian and the United States while claiming to not be a nuclear military power. Politics!

I assume the Western Powers will now simply observe Iran as it becomes a fully armed nuclear ballistic missile nation. Iran has already tested ballistic missiles while we threaten them with trade embargos! I guess we will take action after mushroom clouds appear.

Norman


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## ZXT (Feb 19, 2010)

Posted By norman on 14 Feb 2010 05:46 PM 
Hi Mike:

First of all, super cool technology. But the technology* can't* stop *ALL* incoming missiles and just *a few incoming *missiles means a return to the stone age. 

Years ago I served in the Canadian military and in later years worked in the High Technology sector which has now moved to China.

As exciting as all this technology is, I often wonder if ALL humanity will be Atomic bombed back to the stone age.

It still amazes me that the USSR and the USA didn't end up frying the *world *during the COLD WAR. 

Canada as a nuclear *technical *power chose not to domestically build atomic bombs but contributed to NATO missile and atomic bomb technology. Canada lived under the protective nuclear umbrella of Great Britian and the United States while claiming to not be a nuclear military power. Politics!

I assume the Western Powers will now simply observe Iran as it becomes a fully armed nuclear ballistic missile nation. Iran has already tested ballistic missiles while we threaten them with trade embargos! I guess we will take action after mushroom clouds appear.

Norman



I hope it never comes to that. I want my children to see life as we see it now.


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