Aug 7 1978
From The Space Library
Av Wk reported that the Defense Dept.'s high-energy laser program had been encouraged by a demonstration earlier in 1978 of the use of laser radiation to destroy a high-speed antitank missile in flight. The test, using a chemical laser built by TRW Systems under sponsorship of the Navy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), occurred at a TRW facility in southern Calif. near San Juan Capistrano; Hughes Aircraft Co. had supplied the laser-beam pointing/target-tracking system.
DOD officials cautioned that, despite encouraging progress, high energy lasers would not begin to replace conventional weapons, at least in the near future, because the Pentagon could not consider working on a high-energy laser-weapon system before FY82, and that date could slip. The most probable near-term application would be close-in air defense for large ships such as aircraft carriers, whose value would justify the cost of a laser-radiation weapon. Another potential near-term application would be mobile short-range air defense of high-value Army targets (known as the high-energy laser-tactical defense system). If the Pentagon decided to develop a laser-radiation weapon system, it would be only one in a mix of air-defense weapons, because of what appeared to be intrinsic range and weather limitations of lasers. (Av Wk, Aug 7/78, 14)
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