The Laser Whammy

Evil Eye Fleegle, a creation of Cartoonist Al Capp, can deliver a "whammy," or dirty look, so powerful that it can melt steel and shrivel flesh. Neither U.S. nor Soviet researchers can duplicate Fleegle's feat. But both sides have long been working on weapons that may do the same thing. Jane's Yearbooks, London publisher of the authoritative guides to weapons systems, and the influential U.S. publication Aviation Week & Space Technology report that American and Russian scientists are stepping up efforts to develop weapons that until recently existed only in science fiction. They all depend on the laser, a device capable of generating a beam of light so powerful it can serve as a death ray.

The laser (the word is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) has been around since 1960, when scientists first succeeded in producing the powerful beams of single-frequency light waves. These beams could be delivered to distant points with much less diffusion and loss of intensity than ordinary beams, which consist of the helter-skelter waves of white light. In recent years, using light generated by gases or chemical reactions, researchers have greatly increased both the power and range of lasers.

The intense beams are now used routinely in medicine to repair torn retinas, to remove cataracts and to burn away growths. They are also being used for welding and cutting steel. Lasers were used in Viet Nam to pinpoint bombing targets with a spot of light so that "smart bombs" equipped with infra-red sensors could seek them out. Since then, weapons researchers have been devising even more sophisticated uses for these potentially lethal beams of light.

Few researchers are seriously considering lasers as antipersonnel weapons; there are easier and cheaper ways to kill individual enemy soldiers. But more effective laser applications are under intensive investigation. Most laser research is highly classified, but Army authorities are known to be testing a tank-mounted high-energy laser.

Weapons engineers are also known to be looking into the possibilities of using lasers for antiaircraft defense.

They are studying ways in which lasers can be used indirectly to guide missiles to enemy planes, and to destroy invaders with their searing rays. Lasers may also be employed to protect aircraft. U.S. Air Force researchers, who have already equipped one Boeing NKC-135 as a test plane, are working on aircraft-carried lasers that could knock out ground-based antiaircraft installations by blinding gun crews.

Navy authorities are also interested in using lasers to protect their ships from attack by surface-to-surface missiles, and scientists are looking into the practicality of incorporating lasers into the

U.S. anti-ballistic missile defenses. Lasers could be used to sweep the skies and detect incoming missiles, and may some day be powerful enough to destroy enemy missiles in space. The day may not be too far off when lasers can blind an enemy's early warning system and leave him vulnerable to missile attack. Strong and still unexplained infra-red light detected by U.S. early warning satellites over Russia recently heightened speculation that the Soviets may be experimenting with such devices. U.S. scientists are believed to be working on a similar system.

Some major obstacles must still be overcome before the laser makes a reality of the fictional death ray. Scientists must still figure out ways to provide lasers, particularly those mounted in aircraft or satellites, with the enormous amounts of power needed to generate lethal, long-range beams. They must also learn how to cope with the problems caused by clouds and by reactions with the atmosphere, which can absorb the laser beam or make it "bloom," or diffuse. Finally, they must solve a problem created by the laser itself; when the beam hits a metal target and begins to vaporize the surface, it can create a layer of high-temperature gas that blocks the laser light. As a result, the beam becomes "uncoupled" and loses its effectiveness.

Scientists are confident that these obstacles can be overcome. So, apparently, is the Government, which is increasing its support for high-energy research. The U.S. is currently spending about $600 million a year on laser research. By 1980, its investment in laser development is expected to top $1 billion.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.