Laser Destroys Multiple Rockets

TRW Inc.'s Space & Electronics Group of Redondo Beach, Calif., has reported that the Tacti-cal High Energy Laser/Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator successfully completed a series of salvo tests at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The antimissile system, which the company developed for the US Army and the Israel Ministry of Defence, destroyed two Katyusha rockets in a single engagement.

The megawatt-class, deuterium fluoride chemical laser is designed to intercept short-range threats such as cruise missiles, mortar rounds and rockets like the Katyusha, favored by Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon.