That headline is not a joke. At Edwards Air Force base, 20 minutes from where I grew up, the Air Force has test fired their anti-missile chemical laser.
The test of the high-energy chemical laser was conducted Sunday by the contractors and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the company said.
“The program remains on track to reach the missile shoot-down demonstration planned for 2009,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.
I’ve known about the Air Force laser program for a while now, but the fact that they’re actually testing it and firing the laser pretty much makes my day. We’re still a long way off from X-Wings, but for some reason the concept of actually mounting functional laser weapons on aircraft makes me all tingly.
This reminds me of the movie Real Genius. Classic 80′s nerdy scifi/comedy in Val Kilmer’s early days. Although the application in the movie is a covert offensive/assassination weapon, the general idea is the same.
That tingling would be me charging my lazor. You might want to stand back…