20 May 1998 - ABL: smart bombs

Jay Scott : Daily Whale : archive : 1998 : 20 May 1998
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You don't have to be as smart as a smart bomb to realize that if your ray gun in the sky can hit flying rockets, it should also be able to shoot down airplanes, blast one car in a motorcade, or burn one house in a city.

No doubt there are technical difficulties. But the Air Force doesn't mention these obvious military uses of their Airborne Laser plane.

And that brings up an interesting question: Are we there yet? Are the bombs smarter than the generals?

clue:

The thick lower atmosphere could cause problems in firing the laser at ground targets. The plane might have to do something drastic like fly closer.

take oh take this clue away

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