[wiki] The Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser Testbed, (formerly Airborne Laser) weapons system is a megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted inside a modified Boeing 747-400F. It is primarily designed as a missile defense system to destroy tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs), while in boost phase. The aircraft was designated YAL-1A in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The YAL-1 with a low-power laser was test-fired in flight, at an airborne target in 2007. A high-energy laser was used to intercept a test target in January 2010, and the following month, successfully destroyed two test missiles. Funding for the program was cut in 2010 and the program was canceled in December 2011. It made its final flight on February 14, 2012 to Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona to be prepared and kept in storage at the "Boneyard" by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.
5 Comments
VoodooVDon't get me wrong, I'm all for this sort of defense, but did anyone else think it was a little disturbing when they talked about the debris of the shot down missile falling on the country that fired it as a plus.
That's all fine and dandy, but there is no guarantee that the debris will damage anything that will impede the enemy war machine, if anything it will probably fall on the civilians of that country. Civilians whose only crime is living in the wrong country.
Still, I hate to say it, but it's a small price to pay to stop a potential attack of large magnitude.
Now...that out of the way. what the heck powers the lasers? The jet turbines couldn't be enough could it?
chingaleraSee those two haunchin' CAT generator-lookin' boxes sitting next to the turret in that video of the one on the deck of that vessel? Instant wattage. Hospital emergency generators for ex., use way bigger diesel engines. I'm guessing this thing uses a similar set-up, and you could pack a lot of generator in the cabin of that modified jet.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for this sort of defense, but did anyone else think it was a little disturbing when they talked about the debris of the shot down missile falling on the country that fired it as a plus.
That's all fine and dandy, but there is no guarantee that the debris will damage anything that will impede the enemy war machine, if anything it will probably fall on the civilians of that country. Civilians whose only crime is living in the wrong country.
Still, I hate to say it, but it's a small price to pay to stop a potential attack of large magnitude.
Now...that out of the way. what the heck powers the lasers? The jet turbines couldn't be enough could it?
siftbotMoving this video to kulpims's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.
Drachen_Jagersays...Yet another multi billion dollar boondoggle to support the military industrial complex while the United States continues to underpay, undertrain, and undervalue the people who actually do the work on the ground.
CreamKWas thinking the same, it seems almost counter-intuitive to mention it in the first place. "most likely", sound about the level of interest of saving civilians of warring country or any country that happens to be in the flightpath of said missile.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for this sort of defense, but did anyone else think it was a little disturbing when they talked about the debris of the shot down missile falling on the country that fired it as a plus.
That's all fine and dandy, but there is no guarantee that the debris will damage anything that will impede the enemy war machine, if anything it will probably fall on the civilians of that country. Civilians whose only crime is living in the wrong country.
Still, I hate to say it, but it's a small price to pay to stop a potential attack of large magnitude.
Now...that out of the way. what the heck powers the lasers? The jet turbines couldn't be enough could it?
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