Pentagon banking on lasers for missile defense
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, June 28, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration plans to focus on the
development of
laser weapons as part of U.S. missile defense programs.
Defense officials said lasers will be a key element in destroying
incoming ballistic missiles. They said much of the billions of dollars in
research being sought by the Bush administration would go into airborne and
space-based lasers.
The administration wants $7.9 billion for missile defense in fiscal
2002. This represents an increase of $2.2 billion from that sought by the
outgoing Clinton administration under its multi-year plan.
At a congressional briefing on Tuesday, the officials would not say how
much money was
being sought for lasers. But they said the focus would be on what they
termed "directed-energy." This included the use of high-powered microwave
systems to destroy missiles in their boost phase or while they were being
launched.
Officials said the Pentagon recognized that the technology required
further development. The biggest obstacle, they said, was designing a system
small enough to fit on an airplane or ship, yet powerful enough to direct a
beam that would destroy a missile warhead.
"Future adversaries will increasingly rely on unconventional strategies
and tactics to offset the superiority of U.S. forces,'' Edward Aldridge,
head of procurement at the Pentagon told the House Armed Services Research
and Development Subcommittee. "We must be conscious of these threats as we
foster technology breakthroughs to cope with that environment."
Officials said the Pentagon seeks to increase space-based reconnaissance
as well as advanced communications. Another goal is for the U.S. military to
assure the "generation, storage, use and projection of electrical and other
forms of power throughout the battle-space,'' Aldridge said.
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