US anti-missile laser plane needs more work

Recent tests of an experimental anti-missile Boeing 747, referred to as the ABL (airborne laser), were a success for the United States military. But they were successful in the sense that they seemed to have successfully shown that a new tack was needed, to fully realize the goal of building anti-missile planes.

The ABL has three lasers on it: one of tracking, one for beam modulation, and for exploding stuff up. Though the ABL successfully shot down multiple in-flight missiles, the US seems to have determined that the lasers used will not be of sufficient ability to shoot down targets at a range of up to 200 km, which was one of the program's primary goals.

The software and laser tracking system seems to have worked fine on the ABL -- the next step, it seems, for this platform, is the development of more powerful lasers, that do not suffer as much beam diffusion. One promising avenue seems to be using "diode-pumped" alkali lasers, which are fortified by the electrons of vaporized clouds of potassium or cesium.

One thing is for certain: lasers are a very viable weapon of war, and will be used in the future for anti-missile platforms, whether they be plane, or ground based. From the very invention of the laser the potential was seen by the military, and now, about 60 years later, we are developing the technology and engineering expertise to make bring this fancy new weapon out of the pages of science fiction and into reality. An anti-missile laser system, able to fire from long distances, would be vastly superior to existing anti-missile technology, such as Patriot missiles, which, according to some people, have an intercept rate of less than 10%. 

Of course, no system is 100% effective. A laser-based anti-missile system could feasibly be defeated by being overwhelmed by simulatenous missile strikes, or, be countered with a refractive coating applied to missiles. An additional downside of laser-based anti-missile planes would be that an enemy would have an easy time at locating the plane, if it was firing.