Beam Weapons: The Next Arms RaceI first wrote about laser weapons in 1976 in an article that was published in the October 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction. The article was fact, but a science fiction magazine seemed an appropriate place for it then. Now that the President of the United States can talk about beam weapons in deadly serious tones on national television, it seems time for a more serious look. This book is based on my analysis of information I've gathered in years of writing about laser technology. I have never had a security clearance, and though that limits the information I have been able to obtain, it means that I can say things that otherwise would be replaced by [deleted]. I have been watching the field long enough to play "fill in the blanks" with censored government documents and to make reasonable guesses of what many of the [deleted]s originally said. There are no simple answers here, just complex technical and defense issues that deserve careful study and that are important to the future of our nation and the world. The defense issues raised in the latter half of the book may seem more immediate to the general reader, but they are inevitably related to the technological background laid in Chapters 4-9. Throughout the book, I have documented my sources as much as possible, while respecting the confidentiality of information given in private. |
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Contents
An Introduction to Beam Weaponry | 1 |
An Outline of History | 15 |
Beam Weapon Mythology | 39 |
Copyright | |
16 other sections not shown
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Common terms and phrases
accelerator adaptive optics Air Force aircraft antimissile antisatellite laser antisatellite weapons Arms Control arms race atmosphere atoms Aviation Week ballistic missile defense battlefield beam weapons bomb capabilities carbon dioxide laser Chapter charged particle charged particle beams chemical laser concept countermeasures damage demonstration Department of Defense diameter directed-energy weapons effects electrical electrons emit energy level equipment explosion fire-control fire-control system fiscal fluoride free-electron laser ground-based high-energy laser high-power hydrogen hydrogen fluoride laser infrared intense laser battle stations laser beam laser program Laser Systems laser weapons launch light Livermore microwave million mirror missile defense system National Laboratory needed optics orbit particle-beam weapons Pentagon physics possible potential problems produce pulse radar radiation rays Reagan require sensors soldiers Soviet Union Space Technology space-based laser spot spy satellites stimulated emission strategic tactical target tests Treaty types ultraviolet United vulnerable warheads wavelength weapon system weaponry Week & Space X-ray laser
Bibliographic information
| Title | Beam Weapons: The Next Arms Race |
| Author | Jeff Hecht |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Springer US, 1984 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Apr 13, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0306415461, 9780306415463 |
| Length | 363 pages |
| Subjects | › Language Arts & Disciplines / General Literary Criticism / General Technology & Engineering / Engineering (General) Technology & Engineering / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |