MIRACL, or Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, is the only known successful directed energy weapon developed by the US Navy. It is a deuterium fluoride laser, a type of chemical laser.
The MIRACL laser first became operational in 1980.[1] It can produce over a megawatt of output for up to 70 seconds,[2] making it the most powerful continuous wave (CW) laser in the US.[3] Its original goal was to be able to track and destroy anti-ship cruise missiles, but in later years it was used to test phenomenologies associated with national anti-ballistic and anti-satellite laser weapons. Originally tested at a contractor facility in California, as of the later 1990s and early 2000s, it was located at a facility (32°37′55″N 106°19′55″W / 32.632°N 106.332°W) in the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.[4]
The beam size in the resonator is about 21 cm (8.3 in) high and 3 cm (1.2 in) wide.[2] The beam is then reshaped to a 14 x 14 cm (5.5 in x 5.5 in) square.[2]
In 1997, amid much controversy, MIRACL was tested against a US Air Force satellite in orbit[5] at a distance of 432 km (268 mi).[6] The satellite was disabled but the Air Force did not get the data from the satellite it had hoped for.[5]
References
- ^ U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. "MIRACL at HELSTF". http://helstf-www.wsmr.army.mil/miracl.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ a b c Sherman, Robert. "Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL)". http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/asat/miracl.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ Airborne Laser System Program Office. "Airborne Laser (YAL1A)". http://www.de.afrl.af.mil/Factsheets/AirborneLaser.pdf. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ U.S. Department of Defense. "SECRETARY OF DEFENSE APPROVES LASER EXPERIMENT TO IMPROVE SATELLITE PROTECTION". http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=1431. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ a b Plante, Chris; The Associated Press; Reuters (1997-10-20), "Pentagon beams over military laser test", CNN, http://web.archive.org/web/20071230052044/http://www.cnn.com/US/9710/20/pentagon.laser/
- ^ Zack, Ed. "Miniature Sensor Technology Integration (MSTI)". http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/nssrm/initiatives/msti.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
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