[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <mailto:Undisclosed-Recipient:;@mindspring.com> Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 3:39 PM Subject: A.F. TURNS 747 INTO HOLSTER FOR TMD LASER Air Force Turns 747 Into Holster for Giant (TMD) Laser By Vernon Loeb Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, July 22, 2001; Page A03 HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Within just two years, the Air Force plans to shoot down a Scud-type missile with a giant laser fired from a modified Boeing 747, a test intended to demonstrate the feasibility of missile defense in the "boost" phase shortly after launch. Air Force Col. James Forrest, briefing reporters at a missile defense conference last week, said a 747 carrying a prototype laser is scheduled to begin test flights in February. In 2003, the laser is slated to attempt its first shoot-down, aiming from a distance of 200 miles at a missile breaking through the clouds at an altitude of about 40,000 feet, he said. The $11.3 billion airborne laser program is an example of the futuristic weaponry that the Bush administration is counting on as it speeds up plans to develop missile defenses, despite opposition from Russia, China and European allies who fear a new arms race. On one hand, the program faces rising costs, a highly optimistic timetable, international resistance and technical problems that remain to be tackled, much less overcome. On the other, it holds out a kind of military holy grail: the ability to knock down a missile while it is still over the territory of the enemy that launched it. The administration's new missile defense plan calls for an experiment involving a space-based laser as early as 2008. Another futuristic test of a space-based "kill vehicle" could take place as early as 2005. The airborne laser, fired from a ball turret in the 747's nose, is supposed to track and shoot at four short-range missiles almost simultaneously, since its beam moves at the speed of light. "It's fast, it's precise, it's lethal," Forrest said. The administration considers the airborne laser part of a "layered" approach to missile defense, which also would include interceptor rockets fired from silos in Alaska and ships at sea. If an enemy missile got through one layer, it could be stopped by the next. The administration has also deemed the laser to be one of the promising systems, still under testing, that could be deployed in an emergency within four or five years to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles fired by so-called rogue states. But Forrest said all the laser work has focused on intercepting only short-range missiles. "We haven't looked into the ICBMs," Forrest said. "That's beyond what our tasking is." Other laser experts at the three-day conference here sponsored by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command said there did not appear to be insurmountable technological issues in using the laser to attack long-range missiles, assuming the airplane can get to within about 200 miles of the launch site. Missile defense planners like the idea of intercepting a missile during boost, when infrared sensors easily can detect its superhot plume, it has not yet released decoy warheads, and it is under high stress, making it easier to destroy. The modified 747 actually carries three lasers. The first calculates the length of a missile from nose to plume. A second finds the "sweet spot" of the fuel tank. And the third, a high-energy "chemical oxygen iodine" laser with a beam equivalent of 100,000 100-watt light bulbs, burns a hole in the rocket's hull. "If we can blow the fuel tank up, we can kill the missile," Forrest said. A report sent to Congress by the Pentagon's director of testing, however, has called the airborne laser a high-risk project facing significant technical challenges. "When compared to other major acquisition programs that are less complex, the 24-month full-scale development program is alarmingly short," the report said. The report also questioned whether the laser could cope with countermeasures that adversaries might use to protect their missiles, such as hardening the rocket body. And it raised the issue of "atmospheric distortion," air turbulence that refracts and weakens a laser beam. Because clouds would scatter a beam, defense analysts say the Boeing 747 would have to stay at about 40,000 feet and wait for missiles to break through cloud cover before shooting at them. In the meantime, the U.S. airplane could be vulnerable to antiaircraft fire or enemy jets. Forrest, an F-15 pilot, expressed confidence that Air Force fighters could protect the modified 747. He also said the laser would have "deformable mirrors" designed to adjust the beam to compensate for choppy air. Retrofitting the jumbo jet to house the giant laser, he noted, is the largest aircraft modification project Boeing has undertaken. Each of the laser's 14 modules is the size of a sport-utility vehicle. Development of the laser prototype began in 1996 when Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW were awarded contracts for a $1.1 billion pilot project. The current cost estimate of $11.3 billion includes the eventual purchase of seven modified 747s. Congress appropriated $234 million for the airborne laser this fiscal year, $85 million more than then-President Bill Clinton requested. Even so, the Air Force decided late last year that it needed an additional $98 million, prompting the three contractors to lend the government $60 million to keep the project moving. Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, told Congress last week that the administration was requesting $410 million for airborne missile defense in fiscal 2002, which begins Oct. 1. Total missile defense spending for the year is pegged at $8.3 billion. Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 90083 Gainesville, FL. 32607 (352) 337-9274 http://www.space4peace.org [EMAIL PROTECTED]
