It is said that the theoretical basis of laser was established by Einstein in 1917, but it was not until 1957 that people really discovered laser pointer. Laser has the characteristics of good directionality, concentrated beam, good monochromaticity, and powerful power. It does not require much imagination to see the potential of laser as a weapon. In 1964, there were dead light weapons in the 007 movie “Goldfinger”. This was an early imagination of laser weapons.
In the Reagan era, the space laser was also used as the main weapon for anti-missile and anti-defense in the Star Wars program. As a weapon, laser has incomparable advantages over traditional ballistic weapons. Excluding atmospheric refraction, the laser beam is straight and has no ballistic curve, which is particularly important for air combat. The trajectory of the artillery shell not only sags naturally due to gravity, but the speed and angular velocity of the aircraft’s horizontal and vertical maneuvers also make the shell “swing in the turning direction.
When combined with gravity droop ballistics, the ballistic calculation is especially complicated. The change of atmospheric humidity density, wind direction and wind speed further increases the difficulty of ballistic calculation. The laser beam does not have the problem of projectile flight time. The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second. In a typical combat distance, the transmission time of the laser beam is negligible. All this greatly simplifies the aiming problem. Laser weapons are truly “seeing and hitting”. The nature and difficulty of the aiming problem is similar to that of the camera’s optical image stabilization. The military stability technology required for laser target irradiation and photoelectric target recognition has long been mature.
In the Reagan era, the US-Soviet arms race reached its peak, and the two strategic nuclear weapons were enough to destroy each other several times, only mutual assurance of destruction forced them to return to rationality. Breaking the mutual assurance of destruction will become a magic weapon for killing one’s life, and strategic missile defense will become a reliable guarantee for unilateral nuclear superiority.
Despite all kinds of conspiracy theories, the United States has indeed implemented a strategic defense plan (SDI) called “Star Wars” in earnest, of which space laser weapons (SBL) are an important part. The flight of the intercontinental missile is divided into ascending, midway and reentry stages. Reentry interception requires the lowest range and response time. The anti-missile system can be deployed around the target. The technical difficulty is low, but the induced nuclear explosion and subsequent nuclear pollution must be absorbed by the target country. This is the last resort. .
Interception in the mid-way stage caused a nuclear explosion in space. The deterrence effect is much lower, but the harm to the target country is less. The most ideal interception should be in the ascent stage. The nuclear explosion and nuclear pollution effects are basically absorbed by the launching country. If the ascent stage can be intercepted reliably, the maximum deterrence will naturally be achieved. However, due to the curvature of the earth, only an anti-missile weapon platform in space can intercept enemy intercontinental missiles in the ascending stage in time. Only green laser pointer weapons have time.