Laser weapons: it's not all bad news.

• Author: Thompson, Loren B.
• Position: READERS' FORUM: VIEWS ... COMMENTS ... SUGGESTIONS - Letter to the editor

* The March issue of National Defense contained a skeptical assessment of laser weapons that concluded military users have begun to sour on the technology due to development delays and doubts about operational utility. There certainly is basis for doubt, as the Defense Science Board stated in a December 2007 report. Proponents of high-power lasers have repeatedly exaggerated their military potential while under-estimating the difficulties of development.

However, there is another side to the story. Laser weapons really do have revolutionary implications for some facets of warfare, and major progress has been made in some applications. The statement in the article that the airborne laser "does not have much to show for the $4.3 billion that the government has spent since 1994" is much too negative.

New technology typically emerges in fits and starts rather than in a steady, linear fashion. Edison's search for a durable light bulb is the classic example of the trial-and-error approach to developing new technology, but the fact is that almost all new technologies leave a trail of failed attempts and frustration in their wake before coming to fruition. For example, the basic principles of the Internet were devised in the 1960s, but it was not until the 1990s that the worldwide web began to take off.

So it is with lasers. The first working demonstration of "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation" was provided by Theodore Maiman of the Hughes Research Labs in 1960. It took decades before commercial versions of the technology were devised for applications such as fiber networks and scanning DVDs, and it was not until the 1980s that the government mounted a serious effort to build laser weapons.

Some of the government's efforts, like the Strategic Defense Initiative, failed to yield useful results--although this may have been due as much to politica1 factors as technology. Others have produced usable products, such as the aircraft protection devices that counter heat-seeking missiles and the anti-personnel systems that temporarily "dazzle" the vision of enemies. The ability of high-power lasers to intercept short-range rockets, artillery shells and other fast-moving objects has now been demonstrated dozens of times, proving the relevance of the technology to tactical engagements.

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While lasers are not always a cost-effective alternative to conventional "kinetic" weapons, they are distinctly unique. They...