fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (04/21/89)
From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) In article <5765@cbnews.ATT.COM>, jon@june.cs.washington.edu (Jon Jacky) writes: > > I find the claims made regarding an *operational* X-ray laser weapon in the > Soviet ABM system incredible. I just don't believe this. Please provide > references to a source that we can look up to confirm this story. I am even > a bit surprised that the moderator let this pass without comment. > > Last I heard, the X-ray laser had lost a lot of its lustre in the United > States, and was no longer regarded as promising a practical weapon for > the near to middle future. The x-ray laser phenomenon was apparently > demonstrated in some underground nuclear tests, but it was also claimed that > the brightness of the laser was initially greatly overestimated due to > equipment problems. A recent Scientific American article (cover article?) described a type of xray laser that didn't require a nuclear device to pump it. Something on the order of vaporizing a metal foil with a large charge of electrical current. (Sorry, I just scanned the article while waiting for my wife to finish some shopping.)