Laser shoots down artillery shell

[old-reb]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — The U.S. Army used a high-energy laser to shoot down an artillery shell in flight Tuesday in a defense industry breakthrough, the Army and the manufacturer said.
THE ARMY and TRW, which developed the weapon, said in a joint statement that the laser tracked, locked onto and fired a burst of concentrated light energy at the speeding shell over the White Sands test range in New Mexico.
“Seconds later, at a point well short of its intended destination, the projectile was destroyed,” the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command said.
The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser is being developed by TRW for the Army and the Israeli Defense Ministry. Lasers have been used in past tests at the range to shoot down slower Katyusha Rockets similar to those fired at Israel by militant guerrilla groups in neighboring Lebanon.
“This shootdown shifts the paradigm for defensive capabilities. We’ve shown that even an artillery projectile hurtling through the air at supersonic speed is no match for a laser,” said Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, head of the missile defense command.
“Tactical high-energy lasers have the capacity to change the face of the battlefield,” he added.
The laser was fired from a static test bed in a carefully controlled test, but TRW officials said they looked forward to producing a truly mobile version as the program progressed.
Tuesday’s test — the first time a laser had shot down an artillery shell — was part of a new series to determine the system’s requirements and demonstrate its capabilities against a wide range of airborne targets.
In earlier tests in 2000 and 2001, the test bed focused on the threat of artillery rockets and shot down 25 Katyushas fired singly and in salvos.
The U.S. military has shot down dummy intercontinental missile warheads in tests both inside and outside the atmosphere using projectile weapons, and is also examining the possible use of long-range lasers to burn up such warheads in flight.

[Xorasho]

maybe the best defensive tool for laser weapon would be "a mirror".

[old-reb]

good idea, if the mirror didn't break. I wonder if they ever tested it against a mirror.

old reb

[Xorasho]

Laser can not attack something which is underwater. the water will absorb the laser, that's what the limitation that laser has..

[justoleme]

A stealth cannon ball,,,,,,

[Xorasho]

Originally posted by justoleme
A stealth cannon ball,,,,,,

Mr.J your english is sometimes really hard to understand.. what kind of correlation does stealth have with ball?

[justoleme]

I just tore that one off the top of my head.