Laser-Phasers?

Northrop Grumman Corp. last week said it will install and flight-test its antimissile system for passenger airlines this year, and said it would cost about half of recently published estimates. This comes after the announcement by Congress that anti-missile systems are desirable but unaffordable. Northrop said it will test its commercial aircraft protection system, called Guardian, on a Boeing 747 and an MD-11. The system is based on combat-proven, infra-red laser-based technology currently in production for the U.S. military and international customers. We wonder whether their company scientists have looked at the more utilitarian potential of a more capable laser-based system that could:

• Detect and zap-deter (early) any birds in the projected flight-path;
• De-ice wing leading edges, empennage, props and engine inlets both on the ground and in the air (deleting problems caused by de-ice fluids and inadequacy of anti-ice systems in the face of freezing rain) (ASW, Nov. 10, 2003); and
• Detect and deflect ground and air-launched heat-seeking missiles.

It may sound a little dextrous, deft, nimble and adroit for a single system but reflect that radar has been used in airplanes for air traffic control (ATC) height and position reporting, weather avoidance, surface search and navigation as well as for altimetry and airborne early warning. Multimodal devices that achieve many desired functions tend to make the cost factor recede. Perhaps the original inventors of the Swiss Army pocket-knife need a new project.