ABSTRACT

Space-based lasers (SBLs) could revolutionize 21st Century warfare and thinking about national security problems to the same degree that nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles have changed warfare, force structures, and strategic thinking in the 20th Century. If the technical problems are solved, SBLs might contribute to an effective defense against ballistic missile attacks. Some advocates of SBLs believe they can become potentially decisive weapons that shift the advantage from nuclear offense back toward non-nuclear defense. SBLs might, by the late 1990s, provide the outer layer in a three-tiered ballistic missile defense. SBLs might also be used to defend against future enemy bomber attacks in two ways. First, SBL weapons could be used as the kill mechanism that directly destroys enemy bombers. Second, SBLs might simply "lock on" to the enemy bombers and provide the designator beam that US air-to-air missiles follow to target.