The joint U.S.-Israeli mobile laser gun designed to knock down rockets in flight successfully tracked a live target in a test in New Mexico Friday. But operators decided against performing a second part of the test and did not try to shoot down the rocket with the laser.
According to security sources intimately familiar with the design, the THEL will be able to fire a beam every five seconds and follow 15 targets simultaneously. It will also be able to turn glass canopies on fighter jets into opaque glass after a one-second blast. The THEL could also be used against attack helicopters.
The THEL has already shot down rockets in previous tests at the High Energy Laser System Test Facility at White Sands. The final hurdle is making the laser mobile.
Israel and Northrop-Grumman Corp. have been developing it to knock down Katyushas from Lebanon. There have been no such attacks since we pulled our army out in May 2000, but Israeli officials have said that Hizbullah now has 11,000 rockets aimed at Israel.
The US Army is also interested in the system and it has been designed to destroy a wide range of airborne threats, including missiles and artillery. In the US, the MTHEL is managed by the PEO Air, Space and Missile Defense. In Israel it is managed by the Directorate Research and Development and several defense industries.
I thought the anti-artillery aspect was interesting. |