Frickin Laser Beams

Wed May 4, 2005 03:39 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army officials so far have balked at deploying an experimental laser weapon to guard against insurgents' mortar and rocket fire in Iraq, the system's builder said Wednesday. "We've talked to them about it," said Art Stephenson, a vice president at Northrop Grumman Corp., which built the Tactical High-Energy Laser, or THEL.THEL, a short-range air defense system made up of several components, is the laser weapon closest to possible use in the field. It ties an advanced radar that detects and tracks incoming rockets to a chemically-generated high-power beam that destroys them. The system's development was jointly funded by the U.S. Army and the Israeli Ministry of Defense.Army officers had lots of questions about logistics and safety, Stephenson told reporters at a Northrop briefing titled "Directed Energy: Out of the Lab -- Onto the Battlefield.""And there are answers to all those questions that alleviate those concerns," he said. "It's up to the military to decide how they want to use this capability."Army officials involved in the matter would not be available for comment until Thursday, said Nancy Ray, an Army spokeswoman. In tests at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, THEL has destroyed 46 targets in flight, including mortar rounds fired singly and in salvos, artillery shells and rockets, Northrop officials said. A target is zapped by the real-life equivalent of a Star Trek-like beam of light. The highly focused beam, generated by a mix of hydrogen fluoride and deuterium fluoride, focuses enough energy to heat the target until it explodes in mid-air.