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Frickin 747s with Fricken Laser Beams on Their Nose

It wasn't a shootdown - they still haven't gone to full power on the laser while airborne. Still, the tracking and targeting capabilities are impressive.
 
Gates axed the second prototype but continued it as a research program - hence ALTB vice ABL.
 
The more you learn about it's capabilities and more importantly, it's limitations, the less impressive it is. Very wise decision to kill the larger program.
 
squorch2 said:
It wasn't a shootdown - they still haven't gone to full power on the laser while airborne. Still, the tracking and targeting capabilities are impressive.
Click to expand...

?
Says here it was a kill...

Airborne Laser Testbed Successful in Lethal Intercept Experiment

altb1.jpg
 
Lasertestbed.jpg


Airborne laser testbed successful in lethal intercept experiment
The YAL-1A, a modified Boeing 747-400F known as the Airborne Laser, lands at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The Airborne Laser Testbed successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile Feb. 11 over the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Air Force photo)
 
I think the part where the range is limited to 100 miles could be an issue...that and line-of-sight (unless you can bend a laser around the curvature of the earth)...I'm not entirely sure about the practical applicability of this; but some really cool science!
 
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