MIRACL
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the arbitrary-precision arithmetic library, see MIRACL (software).
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 can produce over a megawatt of output for up to 70 seconds, making it the most powerful continuous wave (CW) laser in the US, [1] although it is still in a prototype state. 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 (32.632 N, 106.332 W) in the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
The beam size in the resonator is about 21 cm high and 3 cm wide. The beam is then reshaped to a 14x14 cm square.
In 1997, amid much controversy, MIRACL was tested against a US Air Force satellite in orbit. The satellite was disabled but the Air Force did not get the data from the satellite it had hoped for.
[edit] External links
- http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/asat/miracl.htm
- http://helstf-www.wsmr.army.mil/miracl.htm
- http://www.cnn.com/US/9710/20/pentagon.laser/
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