This just kicks so much butt. Star Wars FTW!

[OldManC]

The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile. The experiment, conducted at Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off the central California coast, serves as a proof-of-concept demonstration for directed energy technology. The ALTB is a pathfinder for the nation's directed energy program and its potential application for missile defense technology.

http://www.mda.mil/news/10news0002.html

They've been plugging away at this for years and have had successful and not so successful tests, but the fact that this is now more a reality than not makes me feel the same sense of wonder that I do about those who strapped men to bombs and sent them to the moon. I love this stuff...

[the mojo hobo]

Thanks for sharing that. Some interesting things I just read about it:

This "Star Wars" technology is carried on a 747.

The U.S. has been shooting down Katyusha rockets at the White Sands proving ground in New Mexico since 1998 using a high-energy laser weapon....

...it would still cost more to shoot Katyushas out of the sky than it costs the enemy to make them.

Consider also that a single nuclear warhead detonated high above the U.S...would create an EMP so large that it would fry most electronic circuits in the U.S.!

[Highlander]

There goes the neighbourhood... 

[sniper]

...it would still cost more to shoot Katyushas out of the sky than it costs the enemy to make them.

Thats the American way!!! Why spend a dollar when you can spend thousands!!!

NASA wanted a pin to be able to write in a weightless atmosphere so they developed a pen to do so. What we got was the "power point" pen. Russia used pencils.