Airborne laser could eliminate EMP threat

With a nuclear-armed Pakistan in failed-state mode and the threat of a nuclear Iran, the threat of a nuclear attack on the U.S. is fast becoming a reality. By simply floating a cargo ship close to the coast, our enemies could launch a nuclear missile, detonate it in the atmosphere, and kill hundreds of thousands of Americans – known as an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

Although the death toll would not be high initially, the secondary effects of the blasts would be catastrophic as electronics would be a thing of the past. Water wouldn’t flow, vehicles wouldn’t run, food would go bad, etc. I discussed this issue at length with Dr. Bill Forstchen on UTB in March.

While government’s primary responsibility is to protect the American people, the Obama administration has seen fit to put its agenda – much of which is unconstitutional – ahead of defense. We are left defenseless as Obama and his bean counters manage to find billions of dollars for ACORN, but when it comes to defense, there is no money!

W. Thomas Smith, Jr. writes at Human Events:

So, would an operational [Airborne Laser (ABL)] system actually be sufficient to knock down a sea-launched missile (a terrorist missile launched from a freighter close to our shores) in the EMP attack-scenario?

“Yes,” says [Michael Rinn, a Boeing vice president and the program director for the ABL]. “Based on all tests performed by our prototype, an operational ABL would be able to track, acquire, and destroy an incoming ballistic missile. This weapon system is able to intercept ballistic missiles when they are most vulnerable and before they deploy decoys.”

The ABL can defeat the EMP threat, but Washington defunded the program. Fortunately, the ABL program is still underway at Edwards AFB – thanks to internal funding from Boeing.