Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site rabbit.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!harpo!eagle!alice!rabbit!wolit From: wolit@rabbit.UUCP Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Star Wars (continued) Message-ID: <1722@rabbit.UUCP> Date: Mon, 25-Jul-83 16:06:20 EDT Article-I.D.: rabbit.1722 Posted: Mon Jul 25 16:06:20 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 26-Jul-83 23:27:09 EDT Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill Lines: 23 (This discussion probably more properly belongs in fa.arms-d, but we haven't seen much of that group lately -- maybe ARPA didn't like funding the opposition -- so I might as well continue it here.) I just read on the news wire that the Air Force's NKC-135 airborne laser weapons lab successfully "defeated" five AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles fired from an A-7 attack aircraft in a test over the Navy's China Lake test center. This is apparently the test that failed last year. The press, clearly with an eye toward Reagan's "Star Wars" speech, made several comparisons between the Sidewinder and ICBMs that will do much to confuse the subject in the minds of the general public. Does anyone know whether the test was actually supposed to destroy the missiles (which would require an impressively powerful laser) or simply to "blind" them (the AIM-9 is an infrared homer)? My guess is the latter, which is still a good trick, though other, less sophisticated measures, like dropping flares, can also perform a similar task. Jan Wolitzky, BTL Murray Hill (PS: Although the article didn't say so, I assume the Sidewinders were unarmed. Else this interservice rivalry is getting hotter than I thought!)