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Army Shoots Down Artillery Shell with Laser
Tue Nov 5, 4:44 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army used a high-energy laser to shoot
down an artillery shell in mid-flight on Tuesday in a defense industry
breakthrough, the Army and the manufacturer said.
The Army and TRW Inc, which developed the
weapon, said in a joint statement that the laser
tracked, locked onto and fired a burst of
concentrated light energy photons at the speeding
shell over the White Sands test range in New
Mexico.
"Seconds later, at a point well short of its intended
destination, the projectile was destroyed," the
Army's Space and Missile Defense Command
said.
The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) is
being developed by TRW for the Army and the
Israeli Defense Ministry. Lasers have been used in
past tests at the range to shoot down slower
Katyusha Rockets similar to those fired at Israel by
militant guerrilla groups in neighboring Lebanon.
"This shootdown shifts the paradigm for defensive
capabilities. We've shown that even an artillery projectile hurtling through the
air at supersonic speed is no match for a laser," said Army Lt. Gen. Joseph
Cosumano, head of the missile defense command.
"Tactical high energy lasers have the capacity to change the face of the
battlefield," he added.
The laser was fired from a static testbed in a carefully controlled test, but
TRW officials said they looked forward to producing a truly mobile version as
the program progressed.
Tuesday's test -- the first time a laser had shot down an artillery shell -- was
part of a new series to determine MTHEL requirements and demonstrate the
system's capabilities against a wide range of airborne targets.
In earlier tests in 2000 and 2001 the testbed focused on the threat of artillery
rockets and shot down 25 Katyushas fired singly and in salvos.
The U.S. military has shot down dummy intercontinental missile warheads in
tests both inside and outside the atmosphere using projectile weapons and is
also examining the possible use of long-range lasers to burn up such
warheads in flight.
