Homeland Security has started to develop high-power lasers to destroy missiles and protect commercial flights.
The concept sounds too futuristic but we all know that it is possible.
The laser will be called Skyguard and can release Laser Beams of such high intensity that it can make a missile explode in mid air in just seconds.
Skyguard is a giant laser gun with some brain as it can focus the high intensity laser with pinpoint accuracy on the most vulnerable part of the missile that is usually the explosives compartment. The beam makes the compartment so hot that the explosives inside the compartment are destroyed well before they reach their target.
Skyguard has an infrared camera that scans continuously scans a 6-8 mile radius around the installation site. On finding any heat emitting device in air it scans it for its heat signature and checks that with a database of known heat signatures. If the check reveals the presence of a missile then the laser is activated and it focuses on the main vulnerable compartment of the missile structure that heats it up and destroys it in mid air.
The technology will be pretty expensive as individual units will cost around $150 Million but if the units are mass produced then the system will cost somewhere around $30 Million.
Check out the video below to see Skyguard in Action:
Via: popsci
