Square Wheels added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

I just received this, and NO source was cited, so I can't
verify it at all, but it is interesting -- SW
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The industry Airborne Laser (ABL) team has installed all six
Chemical
Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) modules aboard the prototype
aircraft providing its full megawatt-class power laser beam.
Northrop Grumman announced the integration of COIL into the
Boeing 747-400F platform is more than 70 percent complete.
The $1.1-billion ABL project aims to detect, track, target,
and destroy ballistic missiles during their boost-phase. Its
revolutionary use of directed energy makes it unique among
the United States' airborne weapon systems, with a potential
to attack at the speed of light at a range of hundreds of
kilometers.


The powerful, turret-mounted laser is designed to disable
enemy ballistic missiles during their boost phase by heating a
basket-ball sized portion of the projectile's skin until it
buckles. According to Air Force General Trey Obering III, head
of the Missile Defense Agency program, the six modules, each
the size of "a Mini Cooper automobile," and now are ready "for
fully integrated ground testing this summer." This is major
step toward the planned shoot down of a boosting missile in
2009. Because of it's speed-of-light ability to kill, the ABL
is the only system under testing that is able to detect and
engage enemy missiles in their most vulnerable boost phases.

I didn't really believe the disinformation about needing to kill
a satellite falling out of orbit. So, Reagan's SDI is alive and
well 25 years later, huh?

--
HP, aka Jerry

"Surely you can't be serious! And don't call me Shirley!" - from
the movie "Airplane!"