Reply #23: Lasers will hit anything they're pointed at???? [View All]

[longship]

What lasers are you talking about? There are a couple of systems they've discussed. They use a disproportional amount of energy to produce coherent light. This isn't a James Bond movie; this is real world. High power lasers that blow things up just aren't that practical, or small.

Maybe you are talking about x-ray lasers? They'd be deployed in space to intercept a missile after boost phase. Of course, these things are one-use lasers, triggered by an atomic explosion. Putting them in space violates a whole lot of common sense and a few international treaties against weaponizing space.

And how many of those will we need when all an opponent has to do is launch more missiles to overwhelm it? When your opponent is spending 50 million dollars to shoot down each of your 1/2 million dollar missiles, doubling or tripling the number of your missiles makes good offensive sense given that it will likely nullify your opponent's defenses, or break his bank trying to keep his defenses up. Anti-missile systems are a nightmare for weapons reduction advocates.

BTW, do you know how many Star Wars tests have been successful? I'm not sure of the exact percentage, but I don't think it's 50%. So not only are the systems impractical and expensive, but they don't seem to work too well.