Toward a New Laser Era

摘要

If the challenging technology can be developed as planned, the YAL-1A Airborne Laser will become US F's first operational airborne laser weapon. Plans call for the ABL to take its first realistic test shot at the end of 2008. The ABL is, essentially, a 747-type cargo aircraft equipped with a powerful chemical laser weapon, primed for shooting down ballistic missiles in their boost phase. The ABL, however, probably will mark just the start of a broader laser era. Service officials believe the combat potential of lasers—for offensive and defensive weapons, protective systems, sensors, and myriad other military applications—goes well beyond the multibillion-dollar ABL program itself. (See "Attack at the Speed of Light," December 2002, p. 26.)