The U.S. have successfully taken out a ballistic missile with a high-powered laser beam mounted to a plane, it revealed yesterday.
The U.S. Missile Defence Agency (MDA) announced the feat after the test overnight on Thursday in central California.
The plane uses lasers to lock onto the missile and follow its trajectory and then brings it down with a single shot from its nose - all in a matter of seconds.
It is the first successful test of a futuristic, directed energy weapon and realises what had previously just been a science fiction fantasy.
Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan controversially proposed 30 years ago having lasers in space to bring down missiles.
Iran and North Korea could now be forced to alter their missile programmes to make them faster and to look at how to counter the laser beams.
Aviation experts Boeing provide the airframe for the plane, which is a modified 747 jumbo jet.
Aerospace and defence contractor Northrop Grumman produce the high-energy laser and Lockheed Martin are developing the beam and fire control system.
'This was the first directed energy lethal intercept demonstration against a liquid-fuel boosting ballistic missile target from an airborne platform,' the U.S. MDA said.
It added: 'The revolutionary use of directed energy is very attractive for missile defence, with the potential to attack multiple targets at the speed of light at a range of hundreds of kilometres and at a low cost per intercept attempt compared to current technologies.'
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