It's a Success, but it Won't Work. (November 16, 2004)

    To be mounted on a specially modified Boeing 747 the infrared laser produces a beam the diameter of a basketball with the intensity of 10,000 domestic light bulbs.  The manufacture (Northrop Grumman Space Technology) claims the heat could punch through a missile's fuselage from hundreds of kilometres away. Last Friday Northrop Grumman announced its successful ground-based firing with the President of Northrop Grumman Space Technology, Wes Bush, stating, "This is an exceptional achievement."

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Englade told Reuters news agency that while no date has been set, eventually the laser would undergo in-flight testing that will include shooting down a dummy missile over the Pacific Ocean.

However, the American Physical Society expresses serious doubts as to the efficacy of the concept let alone the weapon. As Nature reports the "airborne laser is meant to intercept hostile missiles immediately after launch, automatically detecting and tracking them from high altitude," but an October APS report (Barton D. K., et al. Rev. Mod. Phys., 76. S1 - S424 (2004)) claims, "targeting missiles in this early 'boost phase' is not an effective approach for defending the United States against missile attacks [because] it requires striking them within minutes of launch. This is only feasible for extremely short-range attacks, the report's authors argue. Even if an airborne laser were already in the sky, its range would be insufficient to disable an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile used in a long-range strike against the United States."