Testing Continues on Space-Based Laser

The U.S. Air Force and three contractors announced a successful test of optical systems that a space-based laser would use to shoot down ballistic missiles. The six-second test, carried out Dec. 8 in a California vacuum chamber that simulates space conditions, yielded important data on focusing a high-energy beam to zap a “distant boosting missile target,” the contractors said. Lockheed Martin Corp., TRW Inc. and Boeing Co. have teamed in the $240-million technology demonstration program aimed at putting an experimental laser in space in 2012. Under the current funding, a space-based laser would try to shoot down a dummy ballistic missile in 2013, with the possibility of deployment as part of a layered missile shield for the United States and its allies.