Invisible airborne laser also 'deniable'

(Credit: USAF)

Enemy combatants are close to feeling the heat from an airborne laser weapon called the "long-range blowtorch" and, if officials at US Air Force are right, nobody will know what hit them.

The 5.5-ton Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) combines chlorine and hydrogen peroxide molecules to release energy that stimulates iodine into an intense infra-red, silent and invisible laser with a 20 kilometres striking range.

New Scientist reports that both Cynthia Kaiser, chief engineer of the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate and John Corley, director of USAF's Capabilities Integration Directorate, used the phrase "plausible deniability" at industry briefings to describe one of the weapon's advantages, namely "that the US could convincingly deny any involvement with the destruction it causes".(PDF)

"The target would never know what hit them," John Pike, an analyst with defense think-tank Global Security told New Scientist. "Further, there would be no munition fragments that could be used to identify the source of the strike."

Besides the covert - plausible deniability angle, other pros to this 100KW-class high energy laser include "ultra speed of light engagement" and pinpoint accuracy, according to Boeing.(PDF)

Boeing recently tested the ATL at Kirtland Air Force Base Base N.M., firing the high-energy chemical laser through a rotating turret mounted on the belly of a Hercules C-130H. The company claims the weapons is accurate enough to pick off a vehicle's tires.

"This is a major step toward providing the ultra-precision engagement capability that the warfighter needs to dramatically reduce collateral damage," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. A larger version that can pick an incoming ICBM out of the sky will be mounted on a Boeing 747, according to the Chicago, Illinois based company. (Video)

The U.S. Navy is seeking its own version to take out "small boat threats".

(Credit: L-3 Communications/Brashear)

[pjhenry1216]

This reminds me of the movie "Real Genius" with Val Kilmer. Now all we need to do is get a really big pan of popcorn kernels and it'll be spot on.

In all seriousness though, this is a powerful weapon. In the movie, a weapon like this was being developed for long-range assassination missions. If its as accurate as they claim, this weapon could serve the same function. At least they can't get this into a satellite or capable of working at longer ranges or else it'd be really worrisome with what it could do.

[Viv Collins]

Plausible deniability but a dead give away will be the odd but compelling statistical rise in unexplained cases of spontaneous human combustion

[aka_tripleB]

I think cases of spontaneous human combustion are classified as unexplained. That's kind of the definition of "spontaneous."

I think the bigger give away is the low flying jet that flies by every time there is a death.

[Seaspray0]

Rumor has it, they successfully tested the laser on a building owned by apple just recently.

[cabowabo]

Now That's Funny!