Re: Nuclear Pumped Laser Missiles

Oerjan Ohlson wrote: 
> >I find needle missiles mighty strange. To fire a needle beam, you
need 
> >lots of scanner capacity (ie, they require a dedicated firecon). How,

> >then, can a mere missile carry scanners powerful enough? 

Mike Miserendino wrote:  
> Well if we can today use modern technology to fly a missile into 
> someone's back door, it should be possible to carry this out in the 
> future.  Also, these mere missiles are quite huge in FT - mass 2. 
Some 
> of that internal volume would likely carry powerful sensors able to do

> the job. 

Others have commented on the differences between search and terminal
attack 
sensors.  In addition, the missile that Mike describes, TLAM-C (Tomahawk
Land 
Attack Missile -- Conventional), uses digitized satellite imagery and a
radar 
altimeter to attack _stationary_ targets.  In other words, you program
in a 
course and tell it to follow it, which it does with extreme precision. 
The 
only version of Tomahawk designed to hit moving targets, the Tomahawk
Anti-
Ship Missile (TASM), uses a different terminal guidance system entirely.

Of course, this has nothing to do with _future_ capabilities, but as far
as 
present capabilities go, the analogy doesn't necessarily hold.

-- Chris Weuve	 [My opinions, not my employer's.]
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