- The joint U.S.-Israeli mobile laser gun designed to knock
down rockets in flight successfully tracked a live target in a test in
New Mexico Friday.
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- But operators decided against performing a second part
of the test and did not try to shoot down the rocket with the laser.
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- According to the Defense Ministry Mobile Tactical High
Energy Laser (MTHEL) test took place at the White Sands missile range.
The primary objective was to test if the mobile system could track a large
caliber rocket. If it did, then operators were to attempt to intercept
it with a stationary laser (THEL) as the MTHEL went through the motions.
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- "Preliminary data indicates a track was established
but the secondary objective of destroying the target was not attempted,"
a ministry statement said. "This was the first attempt to establish
a track on this type of target."
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- Launched in 1995, experts say the THEL, called the Nautilus
in an earlier version, will not be ready for battlefield use until at least
2007. The system uses advanced radar to spot and track incoming rockets
and then fires a laser beam to destroy them.
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- According to security sources intimately familiar with
the design, the THEL will be able to fire a beam every five seconds and
follow 15 targets simultaneously. It will also be able to turn glass canopies
on fighter jets into opaque glass after a one-second blast. The THEL could
also be used against attack helicopters.
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- The THEL has already shot down rockets in previous tests
at the High Energy Laser System Test Facility at White Sands. The final
hurdle is making the laser mobile.
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- Israel and Northrop-Grumman Corp. have been developing
it to knock down Katyushas from Lebanon. There have been no such attacks
since we pulled our army out in May 2000, but Israeli officials have said
that Hizbullah now has 11,000 rockets aimed at Israel.
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- There is only a small threat of very primitive Qassam
rockets being fired from the territories into Israel. The US Congress approved
$59 million for further development last October to make the THEL mobile.
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- The US Army is also interested in the system and it has
been designed to destroy a wide range of airborne threats, including missiles
and artillery. In the US, the MTHEL is managed by the PEO Air, Space and
Missile Defense. In Israel it is managed by the Directorate Research and
Development and several defense industries.
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- http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=
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