Boeing Airborne Laser in action

They actually shot down a missile with the thing; and sci-fi fans will
be happy to know the beam really does glow red, just like in the movies:
http://defensetech.org/2010/02/12/ab...ful-shootdown/

Pat

On Feb 12, 8:32*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
They actually shot down a missile with the thing; and sci-fi fans will
be happy to know the beam really does glow red, just like in the movies:http://defensetech.org/2010/02/12/ab...ful-shootdown/

Pat

It looks like the filming was done in infrared, so I'm not surprised
that it glows.

On Feb 12, 6:32*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
They actually shot down a missile with the thing; and sci-fi fans will
be happy to know the beam really does glow red, just like in the movies:http://defensetech.org/2010/02/12/ab...ful-shootdown/

Pat

How 5th grade of yourself. (or is that next year?)

~ BG

Damien Valentine wrote:
On Feb 12, 8:32 pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
They actually shot down a missile with the thing; and sci-fi fans will
be happy to know the beam really does glow red, just like in the movies:http://defensetech.org/2010/02/12/ab...ful-shootdown/

Pat

It looks like the filming was done in infrared, so I'm not surprised
that it glows.

The one with the red beam visible on it might be in visible light,
although it looks kind of indistinct for that, so you may be right about
it being in infrared.
The other one in B&W from inside the cockpit looks like some sort of
low-light image.
I'm trying to figure out what the "short ranged ballistic missile" used
as a target was; whatever it was, it was launched from a ship, used
liquid fuel, and its engine was still firing when the beam destroyed it
at something less than two minutes into its flight.
I had thought it might be a Lance SSM, but they don't have anywhere near
that long of burn time.
I wonder if they got hold of an actual Scud and used that?

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

The one with the red beam visible on it might be in visible light,
although it looks kind of indistinct for that, so you may be right about
it being in infrared.

I just found more info on it; you're right, it's in infrared.

Pat

On Feb 13, 8:18*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
..
I wonder if they got hold of an actual Scud and used that?


Yes. The US got a bunch of Scuds from, IIRC, Romania (or Hungary??)
after the Cold War and has been using them for ABM targets. Scuds
burn for 95 seconds at most, so the "something less than two minutes"
should be interpreted loosely.

*Scuds burn for 95 seconds at most,

Looking at this a little more, I think it was probably a Scud-B, with
a little over a minute of burn time.

Scud-B,

Further and more, FWIW, the ship is the decommissioned ex-USS Tripoli.
A picture of it at Mare Island with a couple of Scuds is at
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/11/10111006.jpg

Allen Thomson wrote:

Yes. The US got a bunch of Scuds from, IIRC, Romania (or Hungary??)
after the Cold War and has been using them for ABM targets. Scuds
burn for 95 seconds at most, so the "something less than two minutes"
should be interpreted loosely.

It must be a challenge for our military people to fuel them, as we are
out of practice with that toxic of a propellant combo (UDMH and IRFNA),
although maybe they got some of the old kerosene fueled ones.

Pat

Allen Thomson wrote:
Scuds burn for 95 seconds at most,

Looking at this a little more, I think it was probably a Scud-B, with
a little over a minute of burn time.

Well, there goes the kerosene.
I wonder if they dug up some geriatric Corporal missile crewmembers?

Pat