Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
Joe, didn't the USAF do something comparable in the late 80's?
I remember a conversation with my former father in law who worked at Northrup (at the time), about laser counter-measures.
Thor was "rods from god" right?When I was with the Thor program they proposed to shoot down a Thor with the NKC-135.
And the NKC-135 was fitted with a laser?When I was with the Thor program they proposed to shoot down a Thor with the NKC-135. The idea was to shoot down Soviet SLBMs when they came out of the water.
That I could grasp.Concerns over the ABM Treaty put a stop to that.
FascinatingThe NKC-135 was fitted with a chemical laser that was based on the rocket engine used in the X-15.
Hate to break it to you, but that doesn't count as an orbit in astronautical terms...The first launch of the Soviet Energia booster carried a prototype space based laser battle station. It suffered a failure during ascent and attained a geosynchronous orbit below sea level.