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star wars inches forward—laser destroys larger rocket

“The ground-based Tactical High Energy Laser, or THEL, locked on and destroyed the 11-foot-long, 6-inch-diameter rocket in flight over White Sands Missile Range on Tuesday, said Pam Rogers, a U.S. Army spokeswoman in Huntsville, Ala.

“The stationary test version of THEL has shot down smaller Katyusha rockets and artillery shells in the past, she said.
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“The system, which eventually would be mobile, uses an advanced radar to spot and track incoming rockets and then fires a deuterium fluoride chemical laser to destroy them.

“The company could deliver a mobile prototype by 2007 or 2008 if it gets a contract this summer, he said.”

At this defense magazine site, as well as this photo of a “The fixed-site version Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)”, there is a sequence showing a rocket intercept demonstration , with a schematic diagram. image credit: Defense Update

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