Maybe Wing commander isn't that far off...

S

Shane

Spaceman
Okay, this is barely qualifies as WC related but did you guys hear the US & Isreal working with TRW successfully tested a laser that shot down a missle out at White Sands, NM. Here is a link to the Yahoo news section that also has a video clip. Crappy quality. Haven't read how stringent the test is or the range on the thing but still pretty damn cool. Or scary, depending on your view on this subject.
http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Breaking/Missile_Defense_System/

Don't know how long that link will be active though.
 
Oh, this is old news Shane. I heared they wanted to place one of these babies on the border between Israel and Lebanon, once it became operational, of course.
 
Excuse me? The militiary have had lasers since the US Project Star Wars (those who don't know what it is, Project Star Wars was a project for anti-missle defense, or SDI).
Hey, who knows how far back it goes.
Do you want to hear something really interesting? This professor invented a protecting liquid coating which can protect fortifications against nuclear weapons! And he made it out of household materials in the kitchen! Hah! (Oh yes, he got the Nobel Prize for it).

...Currently the formula is still classified at the highest level.

..Next time you have a nuke blasted into your neighborhood, don't forget to throw some baking soda at it
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[This message has been edited by Metras (edited June 08, 2000).]
 
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Lasers have existed since the 60`s, but the Star Wars project didn`t quite materialize over the years. What Shane is talking about, on the other hand, it`s called "Nautilus" or something, not really sure about the spelling, is almost operational and has been tested to some extent.
Anyway, like I said, it`s old news.
 
Nobel Prize for it? How would it even qualify? To get a Nobel you must do something that benefits the whole of mankind. Thing's with solely military applications don't really apply ...

And how would anything you find in your home protect you from nukes?

Last I heard they were mounting lasers on 747s to shoot down ICBMs. They even figured out how to focus the laser correctly to take atmospheric interference into account ...
 
But how many scientists have recieved the coveted prize throughout the first half of the 20th century for works with nuclear weaponry? Fermi for one. The A-bomb was a catastrophic device which killed thousands of innocent Japanese people and others. Weapons of destruction have been awarded the Nobel prize. But, hey, isn't the that total opposite of what Nobel intended?
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It's a paradox really: Weapons of destruction, that yet save lives (imagine all of the dead U.S. and Soviet soldiers had Truman not dropped the bomb). That's another topic, I suppose.

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If I'm locked on, there's no such thing as evasive action!

[This message has been edited by Dralthi5 (edited June 09, 2000).]
 
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Part of what I found of interest was that it was a succesful test. I know they've been working on it for years and creating a laser with with enough power to destroy a missle isn't that new. However, getting the thing to track and destroy a moving missle is quite another. Like I said I wonder how hard the test was. Some of the dispute over the Anit-missle defense tests that use surface based missles to knock out warhead is they have trouble determinging the warheads from the decoys.
 
Yeah, I just read that they had a successful test in the nespaper, the other day. It`s of great intrest to us Israelis since it`s the only real means of defense for us in case of bombing by the Hizballah. I read it`s useful even against rockets, which are much faster than your average missile or ICBM.
 
Yeah, but they can't distinguish between proper targets and decoys. So, if enough decoys are launched, some of the actual rockets will get through.

Mad Hatter: Seems to me that this laser system might be more of a danger than a good thing to you.
 
I do not recall what Fermi got a Nobel for and I probably never knew, but I seriously doubt he got a Nobel for working on the A-Bomb. Did he do work that allowed them to create the A-Bomb and get a Nobel for it? Sure. But not for actually creating the thing.
 
Fermi did get the Nobel Prize for it.
And this professor (I'm fliping through my old newspapers to find out his actual name).
However, this university professor did make it out of household material.
Just don't forget, even though its made out of kitchen stuffs, he has a PhD in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry.

So no big whoopee....
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Speaking of Enrico Fermi, did Szilard get the Nobel as well?

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If I'm locked on, there's no such thing as evasive action!
 
Enrico Fermi:
1938 Nobel Laureate in Physics
for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons.

Not for building an Atomic Bomb.
Szilard did not win a Nobel BTW.
 
It's just an obscure line of thinking that I've been pondering lately, Mad Hatter. Basically, it goes like this. The peace process is driven by the casualties inflicted on both sides, right? Well, if one side no longer takes casualties, then you've got trouble, because they don't feel the urge to drive the peace process to a conclusion. This in turn irritates the other side, who then change their tactics to inflict casualties in other ways. So, if you shoot down those missiles as they come in, the enemy will simply change tactics - they'll start major cross-border raids.

That of course assumes that there will be any missiles to shoot down, which right now looks doubtful, fortunately.
 
From your mouth to you-know-who`s ear, Quarto.
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I suppose you`re right to some extent, and look at our border with Syria: There hasn`t been a shot fired there for the last 26 years or so, but still, almost 50% of our people are in favour of returninig the Golan to the Syrians.
Look, I`m not saying that this Nautilus (or however you call it) thing is fool proof, and that it will destroy all misslies fired on us, but you have to remember that merely the fact that we are being shot at, is enough to make us try and reach some sort of settlement. Also, keep in mind that even without that weapon, our casaulties were extremely low, up until now, at least.
 
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steampunk: Yeah, but his work brought about the A-bomb. If not directly, then indirectly, at least.

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If I'm locked on, there's no such thing as evasive action!
 
Only with nuclear theory and physics Dralthi.

Has anyone seen the ol' movie "Meteor" with Shawn Connery? Both sides (being American and the USSR [remember, this is an older movie, before the break up] had a hidden nuclear satellite). The Americans had 'Hercules', which held 14 nuclear missles. USSR, had St. Peter, which held ohh.. I think it was 10??
Anyways, both of their purposes was originally to defend against incoming asteroids.
Well... considering such, when both sides met up with each other (Shawn Connery was the creator of the Hercules), they found that; by order of the government; was that both satellites were facing towards the plannet at their rival nations.

Well... things pretty much worked out near the end (althrough present the, the theory of a nuclear missle barrage at an asteroid would not actually destroy it). But still... missles originally intended to defend the Earth against asteroids; and the big honchos with cigars decided (hey! Forget about stupid asteroids, we got bigger problems, like propanda; and filling my pockets! Forget about the planet!)

... ... ...

[This message has been edited by Metras (edited June 11, 2000).]
 
Right. Indirectly.

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If I'm locked on, there's no such thing as evasive action!

[This message has been edited by Dralthi5 (edited June 11, 2000).]
 
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