Directed energy weapons key for ballistic missile defence
Despite the US military’s rocky relationship with directed energy, top Pentagon leaders made the case to Congress for eventually folding high powered lasers into the ballistic missile defence (BMD) system architecture.
During a 7 March House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee hearing, Duncan Hunter (R-CA) asked Pentagon leaders to discuss how ‘super risky, super new’ directed energy weapons could be used to shoot down ballistic missiles in the boost phase.
‘To me it’s really not a technical question. To me it’s a policy question,’ US Strategic Command commander USAF Gen John Hyten responded.
‘The challenge that we have,
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