Laser Destroys Its Target in ‘Star Wars’ Test

The Pentagon, in the first of a series of tests of a potential “Star Wars” weapon, announced Tuesday that it had successfully fired a chemical laser against a missile shell.

The laser, tested Sept. 6 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, was aimed at a Titan 1 booster missile body, which was stationary and upright on the ground. According to the Pentagon, the laser beam destroyed the missile shell, which contained no liquid propellant or explosives, by irradiating it for several seconds.

Pentagon Claims Success

“It was a success,” said Lt. Col. Leon DeLorme, spokesman for the Strategic Defense Initiative Office, the Pentagon unit that runs the so-called “Star Wars” space-based missile defense research program.

A chemical laser combines gases to produce a concentrated light beam. Previous tests of the laser employed in the New Mexico experiment--known as a Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, or MIRACL--had been conducted in a laboratory.

The test was intended to determine the vulnerability of liquid propellant ballistic missiles to such lasers, which focus a high-energy beam of light.

Critic Questions Value

The value of the test was questioned by a research associate for the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has been critical of the program. The researcher, Pete Didisheim, said that “most outside assessments” have discarded the possibility that a chemical laser could play a key role in the program.

“The problem of maintaining them in orbit for a long period seems like a real hazard,” he said.

The Pentagon kept secret the operational details of the test, including information about the distance between the laser and the target and how long it took before the beam could burn through the rocket skin.