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00:00An awesome development in the weapons race and after the program the director Chris Derlacher will be available on the web for a live chat at www.channel4.com
00:30After 30 years of secret experiments for the U.S. Air Force
00:59Scientists are now prepared to reveal how they unleashed a powerful new force
01:04We're building weapons systems, there's no doubt about that, that's what our profession was
01:08But it was different than a bomb or a nuclear weapon
01:12This was a pinpoint of energy being delivered somewhere
01:16At its pinpoint of focus, laser light can be more intense than the sun
01:24It's quite phenomenal to be able to send something out of a large aperture
01:29And have it get focused to a point a few centimeters in diameter, kilometers away
01:35And it's sort of like a giant sword
01:37I don't know of any senior leader who was not intrigued by the notion
01:45Can we get energy from here to there at the speed of light and cause damage with it
01:50Today, despite a history of setbacks and technological problems
01:55A new laser weapon is being built
01:58This effort transcends military and scientific logic
02:02The appeal of the light sword is the idea of building a sci-fi death ray
02:08Sequence start
02:2010, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
02:36Okay, shutter, open
02:39This U.S. Air Force laser produces a narrow beam of 150,000 watts
03:00Enough energy to light up a football stadium
03:02Focused onto a spot the size of a pinhead
03:05It can destroy the toughest materials
03:08Polycarbonate, which is used in aircraft windscreens, is baked into souffle
03:18Titanium, which melts at 1,600 degrees Celsius, is vaporized
03:29A laser beam appears to be the perfect weapon
03:34It strikes the target at the speed of light and with deadly accuracy
03:38But the scientists who pioneered the laser have been skeptical about using it as a weapon
03:47Ever since its invention in the early 60s
03:50We hear so much stuff about high powered lasers and what sort of dangerous weapons they are
03:56That we had a little fun, we built up a little demonstration laser
04:01We couldn't shoot the students, they were all paying high fees
04:04And professors were somehow out of season
04:06So we thought, well, got to get some animals
04:09So we went to the zoo
04:10But they didn't want us shooting their animals
04:12So we just bought a balloon for the children
04:15And, uh, uh, but you know, when we got that balloon
04:18There was a mouse in it
04:20You know how mice get into everything
04:24However, we had our more or less trusty laser
04:27So we took our more or less trusty laser
04:30And we were able to dispose of it
04:32The inspiration for the death ray was science fiction
04:37Science fact lagged far behind
04:40Flash, what are those awful creatures?
04:43I never saw anything like them
04:45They must be from another planet
04:47This ray gun ought to stop them
04:51They're not human
04:55Any comic strip artist knew that
04:58Blazers should be able to blast tunnels through mountains
05:01Or shoot down Klingons a million miles away
05:04Well, I calculated that with the kind of lasers we had then
05:08If you could deliver a flash of one joule every second
05:12Which was more than we, much more than we could do
05:14You could evaporate, completely evaporate a 200-pound man
05:18If he'd stand there for three years
05:31Out here in the New Mexico desert
05:34Overcoming scientific obstacles is seen as a challenge
05:37This is where the first atom bomb was built and tested
05:40In the late 60s, laser weapon development began here too
05:52Thirty years later, Kirtland Air Force Base
05:55Has become the home of the death ray
05:58Its motto is
06:02Peace through light
06:04Kirtland's first breakthrough was in 1973
06:19The officer in charge of this operation was Major General Don Lamberson
06:23This was the site of the first high-energy laser experiments against moving target
06:33There was an enthusiasm and a momentum for doing something new
06:37That had not ever been done before
06:38And I suppose if we had understood the challenges that lay before us
06:42We would have given up at that particular point in time
06:46But we didn't because it was an enthusiastic young group
06:49Let's go get the job done
06:51The young weapons builders were also inspired by the local wildlife
06:55This was rattlesnake country
06:58The snake was a very interesting phenomenon
07:03It's nearly a perfect weapon
07:05And almost always the first strike is lethal
07:07And that's a very, very fine attribute of a weapon system
07:11And we thought that would make an excellent mascot for our program
07:15We called him Laser Louis
07:17Until recently, this archive film was classified secret
07:21It reveals the trial of the first laser weapon in 1973
07:25The laser itself weighed over 30 tons
07:29And needed a crew of four to aim and fire it
07:31The weapon's massive fuel tanks and complex optics
07:36Covered an entire hill
07:37The largest optic was a tracking telescope
07:41Which was used to aim the beam at an unmanned drone plane
07:45Now there were some sergeants from Fort Bliss
07:51That operated the drone
07:52And they would launch the drone
07:57And the drone would typically fly a racetrack pattern around there
08:00On the first event
08:05The drone cut the corner a little too short
08:08And as a result, the beam caught the top of this weather tower right here
08:13And since the tracking of the beam was done by infrared energy
08:17The beam said, I like that
08:20That's a hotter spot than the drone
08:22And I'll just stay right there
08:23And it melded the top of the tower
08:25Which has since been replaced
08:27The sergeants launched again
08:34It was a tense moment for Don Lamberson
08:37Another miss
08:38And his vision of laser weapons would be finished before it had begun
08:41Eventually the beam locked onto the drone
08:53And burnt a small hole just below the wing
08:56The fuel tank exploded
09:02And the drone broke in half
09:11The generals were impressed
09:24It was later, perhaps a few days later
09:32That we realized the significance of what had been done militarily
09:36At last there was a system which could reach out at the speed of light
09:40And can destroy a target very much as a missile or a gun would destroy the target
09:44Except that it's going at the speed of light
09:47And so while that had been the work of fiction before
09:50And while we were sure that that would happen
09:51It had not been demonstrated until November of 1973
09:55In those days, if you recall the 70s
09:59We were getting disentangled from Vietnam
10:01We had suffered many losses in Vietnam
10:04From missile kills and from gunfire kills against our aircraft
10:07At that time we thought that the laser would primarily be used as a replacement for the gun
10:15In fighter aircraft, in close air combat
10:18That is, we would fire the laser
10:20Which would go faster than a missile or gun
10:23And therefore the first shot would be from the laser
10:26And would be destructive
10:27It was thought that a fighter armed with such a death ray
10:31Would be invincible in the skies
10:33Unfortunately we were not able to do that
10:39Because while we understood the laser
10:40And we understood the optics
10:42And we understood the propagation of the beam through the air
10:45And we understood the effects of the target
10:47We never were able to bring the size and the cost of the laser down
10:52Where it was compatible with fighter aircraft
10:57Kirtland had come up against the fundamental dilemma
11:01In building a practical death ray
11:02The smaller the laser, the less power it has
11:05This stems from the way a laser creates its beam of light
11:09It's a bit strenuous
11:15I have to take off my coat
11:16You see, from the beginning of time
11:20Until the last few years
11:22All light sources were hot bodies
11:24Like the sun or the gas in the neon sign
11:29And as the atoms are heated
11:33They're forced to knock against each other
11:35And some of them get excited
11:37And then they emit in a millionth of a second or so
11:40A little flash of light
11:42And you have one here
11:49And you have big ones
11:55So you have just a jumble
11:58Turning this jumble into laser light
12:02Involves playing a trick with the laws of atomic physics
12:05This laser is a glass tube filled with gas
12:14The atoms that make up the gas
12:16Are being bombarded with energy
12:18To make them excited so that they emit light waves
12:20At each end of the laser
12:33Is a mirror that some light waves
12:35Travelling in unison bounce off
12:36These light waves head back into the gas
12:39Forcing other, already excited atoms
12:41To release more light
12:43As more and more atoms are forced to release light
12:51Powerful light waves build up inside the gas
12:53Eventually, they burst through one of the mirrors
12:57The amplified light waves
12:58Are travelling in perfect harmony
13:00This is a laser beam
13:03By injecting more energy
13:06To create more excited atoms
13:08The beam's power is increased
13:10But as the energy input grows
13:12The device that contains it
13:14Must get bigger
13:15Most early high energy lasers
13:20Were so large
13:21They never left the labs they were built in
13:23This amphibious vehicle
13:26Armed with a laser
13:27Was heavy and slow
13:28And never made it to the battlefield
13:30Yet Kirtland had an even more ambitious plan
13:34We clearly had in mind
13:37That we needed to show the physics
13:39And the feasibility of a high energy laser
13:41From an aircraft platform
13:43It didn't need to be a fighter
13:44It didn't need to be a bomber
13:45That was terribly important
13:47To get from a stationary ground situation
13:50To a moving situation in the air
13:52To get a laser airborne
13:55Would need a big plane
13:57And a brave crew
13:58In 1973
14:12This modified Boeing 707
14:14Arrived at Kirtland Air Force Base
14:16It was nicknamed
14:17The Millennium Falcon
14:18And would be the platform
14:20For the new secret weapon
14:21Colonel John Otten
14:23Was in charge of the test flights
14:25This is like meeting an old friend
14:29Having spent a lifetime in it
14:32And survived
14:33It's remarkable
14:42It's still the same
14:43It still smells the same
14:45This is where Augie sat
14:48Flight mech
14:49He and I had an agreement
14:50If he flew on the airplane
14:52I'd fly with him
14:52He wouldn't crash the airplane
14:54And we wouldn't blow it up in the back
14:55There was little that gave away
14:59What was inside this plane
15:00Apart from its hunchback
15:02This was the airborne laser lab
15:07After years of intense activity
15:10And 30 million dollars
15:12The device was ready to fire
15:14Well, this is where we transitioned
15:21Into the working part of the airplane
15:23During tests
15:25Nobody was allowed
15:26To enter this part of the plane
15:27This was the business end of the laser
15:33The laser came out through here
15:35Came across
15:36Went down into this one
15:38And back out
15:38And then came through this device
15:40Called an aerodynamic window
15:41And once it came through there
15:43It was then in the cabin
15:44Where it went through a series of mirrors
15:45Which were located in this area
15:47And eventually
15:48It was transferred up to here
15:50Where it went into the telescope
15:51And out through the top of the aircraft
15:53And eventually to the target
15:55In January 1975
16:04The airborne laser lab
16:05Lumbered down the runway
16:07For its maiden flight
16:08The aircraft was so heavily loaded
16:10There were worries
16:11It would not be able to take off
16:12There was a friend of mine
16:22Who made the point
16:24Some years back
16:25That if they wanted to use
16:27These high energy lasers
16:28As weapons
16:29The best thing to do
16:30Would be to drop them
16:30On the enemy
16:31They were so big and heavy
16:33There was also
16:35Some dangerous chemistry on board
16:37Hot carbon dioxide
16:40And nitrogen gases
16:41Were blasted
16:42Into a low pressure chamber
16:43Where they expanded rapidly
16:44Releasing energy as light
16:46To create a laser beam
16:48The tank contained all the fuels
16:52Pressurization that was required
16:54To make the laser run
16:55We stored the fuel
16:57And nitrogen
16:58And the oxidizer as liquids
17:00Like they use in rocket engines
17:01And it was quite hazardous
17:03Not only were the fuels hazardous
17:05But the pressure
17:06At 6,000 psi
17:07Stored inside the helium
17:08Would have blown the airplane up
17:10In an instant
17:10If it had been allowed
17:11To be released
17:12Or ignited
17:13All the valves
17:15Like this one
17:15Showing up here
17:16That you see around
17:18These little bright shiny boxes
17:19Were run by gas
17:20That was for safety reasons
17:21So we wouldn't have
17:22Any electric sparks
17:23And the laser beam itself
17:25Of course
17:25Was fairly lethal
17:26In fact
17:26That being the whole point of it
17:28And there were burn marks
17:29That appeared on the sides
17:30Of some of these panels
17:31This photograph is inside
17:35The device compartment
17:36Of the airborne laser laboratory
17:38And you can see this beam
17:41Right now
17:42And this just shows you
17:43The dust that was left
17:45From the airplane environment
17:46That dust is being
17:50Caught on fire actually
17:52By the laser beam
17:54As it comes out
17:54The high energy laser
17:55And bounces from mirror
17:58To mirror
17:59To mirror
17:59And out to top
18:01Of the aircraft
18:01This was my operating station
18:05Test director's position
18:06Many hours spent here
18:10This desk contained
18:12All the abort
18:13And the inhibits
18:15And the ability to set
18:16Or avoid them
18:17If you wanted to
18:18Contained all the
18:19Outside communication
18:20It contained the key
18:22There was a key
18:23That was required
18:24To fire the laser
18:25We were nervous enough
18:26That we put one of those in
18:27This is where the countdowns
18:29Were conducted from
18:30And where the laser firing
18:31Sequence was initiated
18:32In 1980
18:39The airborne laser lab
18:40Began a series of experiments
18:42To show it could destroy
18:43Air-to-air missiles
18:44There was only one way
18:46To demonstrate this capability
18:47But it was risky
18:49This aircraft was serving
18:57As a target
18:57It was being shot at
18:58By a real missile
18:59From a real aircraft
19:00If it had been hit
19:01The aircraft would have
19:02Been destroyed
19:03So to make the experiment safer
19:06The missile did not
19:07Carry enough fuel
19:08To reach the airborne laser lab
19:10But there was a finite
19:14Probability that it would happen
19:15And that was if
19:17The airplane that was
19:18Launching
19:18The air-to-air missile
19:19Toward us
19:20He pitched up
19:21He actually flew up like that
19:22And launched it
19:24During that process
19:25And there was enough energy
19:26For the missile
19:27To arch over
19:28And come toward us
19:29That happened one day
19:31Our chase airplane
19:32The man who was flying
19:33With us
19:34Watching what was happening
19:35Disappeared
19:35He was history
19:36This airplane's not
19:38Getting out of the way
19:39Of anything
19:39And we sat quietly
19:41And we sat quietly
19:41And watched this missile
19:42Come in toward us
19:43And in the screen
19:44You could see the missile
19:45Coming toward you
19:46And it got big enough
19:46Where you could see
19:47The fins on it
19:48You could actually see them
19:48Start to wiggle
19:49And then it dropped out
19:51And went away
19:51Everybody was in build sighting
19:54Three years after the first
19:58Hazardous test
19:59The airborne laser lab
20:00Still hadn't downed a missile
20:02When the aircraft took off
20:04On 26th May 1983
20:06The scientists on board
20:08Knew that the air force
20:09Was getting impatient
20:10Time was running out
20:12There we go
20:12We got consent
20:13Fire
20:13Clear to Fox
20:15Clear to Fox
20:16City on
20:18Entering the Fox
20:21Clear to Fox
20:25Son of a bitch
20:38It worked
20:39It worked
20:39There were quite a few
20:41Hoorays and hurrahs
20:43That day
20:44And that was
20:45One of five missiles
20:47That they shot down
20:48And it's this
20:48Air-to-air missile
20:49And what you
20:50What AOL did
20:51Is fracture its nose
20:52Which made it
20:53Break block
20:54And made the missile
20:56Obviously go off target
20:57That autumn
21:00The plane went on
21:01To intercept
21:02Two sea-skimming
21:03Cruise missiles
21:04The military strategists
21:06Now hoped
21:07That an airborne laser
21:08Could act as a
21:09General missile interceptor
21:10I was overjoyed
21:16That we had had problems
21:18And it was not clear
21:19That we were going to be able
21:20To really do that experiment
21:22And when they finally succeeded
21:24And then shot down five
21:25Sidewinders
21:26In a row
21:27And two of the drones
21:29From the Navy
21:30Representing cruise missiles
21:32Over the ocean
21:32That was a very
21:34Very important thing
21:35To do
21:36The crew received
21:38The traditional hose down
21:39To celebrate their successful mission
21:41But they all knew
21:42That the experiments
21:43Had exposed an Achilles heel
21:45In any airborne laser
21:46They're clear weather friends
21:52They don't propagate
21:53Through clouds
21:53They don't propagate
21:54Through very very
21:56High turbulence
21:56Conditions
21:57And they don't go through rain
21:59But they do work at night
22:01Just fine
22:02In fact they work better
22:03Than the night
22:03So there's a weather limitation
22:05Environmental limitation
22:07Even in good weather
22:09Maximum range
22:10Was just a few miles
22:11Beyond that
22:12Atmospheric particles
22:13Dissipated to the beam
22:15It was not an effective
22:16Missile interceptor
22:18So in the mid-80s
22:19The airborne laser lab
22:20Was mothballed
22:22There is on this board
22:32The last flight
22:32That the airplane had
22:33Where it collected data
22:34And the sequence of testing
22:36That was listed on here
22:37That starts off
22:38With a takeoff
22:39Left and right turns
22:41A series of Dutch rolls
22:42Climbs and dives
22:442G turn
22:45And it ends up
22:48With a RTB
22:49Return to base
22:51The dream of airborne laser defense
22:59Appeared to be over
23:00There would be no
23:02Peace through light
23:03Yet the threat
23:10Was stronger than ever
23:11If an intercontinental
23:12Ballistic missile
23:13Was launched
23:14From a Soviet silo
23:15It was almost impossible
23:16To intercept
23:17The transatlantic flight
23:18But some scientists
23:28Believe there was still
23:29A way of using
23:30The power of the laser
23:31They drew up plans
23:32To put a death ray
23:34In space
23:35There was a logic
23:44That explained
23:44Why this laser
23:45Would succeed
23:46When its predecessor
23:47Had failed
23:48Some of the differences
23:56Between a space-based laser
23:58And an airborne laser
23:59Are the fact
24:00That the airborne laser
24:02Must shoot through
24:02At least a little bit
24:03Of atmosphere
24:04Even though it's high up
24:05And the atmosphere
24:06Is thin
24:06Where the space-based laser
24:09Is way out
24:10Where there's essentially
24:11Zero air
24:12And the space-based laser
24:14Has the advantage
24:15Of not having to
24:16Penetrate through the atmosphere
24:18So space is an ideal
24:20Place for this laser
24:22To operate
24:22This is Alpha
24:34An experiment
24:36To test the capabilities
24:37Of a space-based laser
24:39It's an extraordinary
24:41Engineering achievement
24:42But few people
24:43Know of its existence
24:44The mission to film
24:46Inside this installation
24:47Has never been granted before
24:49The power of this laser
24:56Remains secret
24:57But the US military
24:59Has conceded
24:59That it is over
25:00A million watts
25:01Which would give the laser
25:02A minimum range
25:03Of 5,000 miles
25:04In the vacuum of space
25:06In the mid-80s
25:11The US government
25:12Was seduced
25:13By the potential
25:14Of a laser
25:14Based in space
25:15I call upon
25:22The scientific community
25:23In our country
25:24Those who gave us
25:25Nuclear weapons
25:26To turn their
25:27Great talents now
25:28To the cause
25:29Of mankind
25:29And world peace
25:30To give us
25:32The means
25:32Of rendering
25:33These nuclear weapons
25:34Impotent
25:35And obsolete
25:36From March 1983 onwards
25:44President Reagan
25:45Assigned up to
25:46$3 billion a year
25:48To build a space-based
25:49Defense against
25:50Nuclear missile attacks
25:51From within the Soviet Union
25:52The project became
25:54Known as
25:54Star Wars
25:56With a series of lasers
25:59In orbit
25:59Around the Earth
26:01You have enough of them
26:02Say 20 or so
26:04In appropriate altitudes
26:06Covering all continuously
26:08The surface of the Earth
26:10You have 24-hour
26:11Global protection
26:12So if a hostile nation
26:15Send up a missile
26:16You can capture that
26:18With a laser beam
26:19Thousands of miles away
26:20And blow it up
26:21As it breaks
26:23Through the cloud tops
26:23The official animations
26:26Tried to make the project
26:27Seem plausible
26:28But for many laser scientists
26:30This was pure science fiction
26:32You have to have
26:35A very precise aiming
26:37If you want to get
26:38An enemy missile
26:41In the boost phase
26:43Before it deploys
26:44A lot of decoys
26:45And that might be
26:475,000 miles away
26:48And boy that really
26:50Takes some pretty fancy aiming
26:52This laser's accuracy
26:57Has never been demonstrated
26:59In space
26:59Because Alpha
27:00Could not leave
27:01This huge test chamber
27:03In Southern California
27:04It was
27:06A ground based experiment
27:07I think that
27:11Maybe sometime
27:12There will be lasers
27:13In space
27:13Probably not in my lifetime
27:15I'm not
27:16That's a very
27:17Very difficult
27:18Technology to do
27:19You've seen in this airplane
27:20How hard it is
27:22I think some time ago
27:24To make it work
27:25You can go in there
27:26And work on it
27:27And when it doesn't work
27:28You can fix it
27:28That's very difficult
27:30To do in space
27:31It's incredibly expensive
27:33To get there
27:34The technology
27:36Is relatively immature
27:37Still
27:37To handle
27:39Putting an object
27:40Like that in space
27:41And pointing it
27:41To the accuracies
27:42That are required
27:43Much less making it run
27:44On a routine operation
27:45An ambitious
27:46Ambitious undertaking
27:47After consuming
27:50Over 45 billion dollars
27:52Star Wars hadn't even
27:54Produced a prototype
27:55For a weapon
27:55By the 90s
27:57The military
27:58Had become disenchanted
27:59Even they
28:00Began to wonder
28:01If these scientists
28:02Were chasing a dream
28:03Rather than
28:04Engineering a weapon system
28:05So
28:07The space-based laser
28:08Was put on hold
28:09And Alpha
28:10Joined its airborne cousin
28:11In mothballs
28:12The laser scientists
28:17Were moved on
28:18To other projects
28:19But they were always
28:20On the lookout
28:20For new applications
28:22Of this technology
28:22One Star Wars veteran
28:38Has returned to New Mexico
28:39To the White Sands
28:41Missile range
28:42On the launch pad
28:45Is a flying saucer
28:46We're trying to design
29:03A system
29:04To use lasers
29:05To generate highways
29:07Of light
29:07That vehicles
29:09Can ride on
29:10To get to space
29:10I worked in the
29:12Star Wars area
29:13For about
29:15Seven years
29:16And
29:17Kind of learned
29:19The technology
29:19Of generating
29:21Power
29:21And transmitting it
29:23Through the atmosphere
29:24And through space
29:25And of course
29:27I was interested
29:28In the
29:28Transportation
29:30Application
29:30Of those
29:31High-power lasers
29:32Okay, we call this
29:39A light craft
29:39And basically
29:41This is a model
29:42Of a future craft
29:44For putting
29:45Micro-satellites
29:47Into orbit
29:47Basically
29:50It is
29:51An engine
29:52This engine
29:54Runs on remote
29:55Laser power
29:55That is
29:56Beamed to the craft
29:57The beam
29:58Strikes this mirror
30:00And that
30:01Reflects and focuses
30:03Just inside
30:04The focal ring
30:05The light
30:07The laser light
30:08Is focused
30:09To such a huge
30:09Intensity
30:10That it
30:11Explodes
30:12The air
30:13It superheats
30:14The air
30:14And creates
30:15Enormous pressures
30:17That drive
30:18A thrust pulse
30:19Out of the back
30:19End of the engine
30:20And then it pushes
30:21It
30:21Bang, bang, bang
30:22Okay, 20 seconds
30:30Roger
30:32Arming the laser
30:33Ten seconds
30:39Laser system is go
30:41We're go for launch
30:425, 4, 3, 2, 1
30:50Fire
30:51Lake believes
31:08His light craft
31:09Has universal potential
31:11The real application
31:22Of this of course
31:22Is launching
31:23Nanosatellites
31:24To orbit
31:24But the same
31:26Principles
31:26Can be applied
31:27In the future
31:28To moving people
31:29Around the planet
31:29And into space
31:30So we're talking
31:31About vehicles
31:32That could actually
31:33Come to your house
31:34Pick you up
31:35And fly to orbit
31:36Or to the moon
31:36Directly
31:37And I would
31:39Yes love
31:39To see this planet
31:40From space
31:42But I'm not
31:42One of those
31:43Lucky astronauts
31:44Right now
31:46Lake has money
31:47Problems
31:47All he can afford
31:48Is a few days
31:49On this laser
31:50Which is 7 years old
31:51And underpowered
31:52To reach space
31:54Lake needs
31:55A million watt laser
31:56That will cost up
31:56To 50 million dollars
31:58To attract funding
31:59He must do
32:00Something spectacular
32:01Well our previous record
32:07Was in December
32:08Which is 73 feet
32:10Our objective
32:12To this week
32:14Here
32:14Was to exceed
32:1690 feet
32:17Which is the
32:18Second flight
32:19That Goddard
32:20Demonstrated
32:20Back in 1920s
32:23With his
32:25Liquid propellant
32:25Chemical rocket
32:26Goddard's rocket
32:28Has gone on
32:29To power
32:29The US space program
32:31Beating his
32:3290 foot mark
32:33Will put Lake
32:34In illustrious company
32:35Five
32:41Four
32:42Three
32:43Two
32:44One
32:44So without a success
32:53That seems a bit higher
32:54Yeah I think it went
32:56A little higher
32:56We'll find out shortly
32:58Here it's probably
32:59Still 50, 60 feet
33:01Though
33:01You still nevertheless
33:03Expect to be able
33:03To get more than
33:0460 foot
33:05Did you
33:05Well
33:06Let's see
33:07It may depend
33:08On the weather
33:09Conditions here
33:10This wind may be
33:12Blowing it out
33:12Of the beam
33:13At the top
33:14Man that's getting windy
33:19Five
33:22Four
33:22Three
33:23Two
33:24One
33:2575 feet
33:47Hey
33:49I'm happy
33:49Four
33:50Three
33:50Two
33:51One
33:52While Lake
33:56Pursues his dream
33:57Of space flight
33:58Elsewhere in the
34:00New Mexico desert
34:00Other laser scientists
34:02Have begun tests
34:03On a formidable
34:04New weapon
34:05Many of the laser
34:19Weapon labs
34:20At Kirtland Air Force Base
34:21Lay empty
34:22Peace through light
34:23Was seen as an intriguing
34:25But expensive folly
34:26Then in 1990
34:31Iraq invaded Kuwait
34:33The Gulf War
34:40Enabled military scientists
34:42To see how various
34:43Weapons systems
34:44Performed on the
34:45Battlefield
34:45The
34:56Success of the U.S.
34:57High-tech weaponry
34:58Was relayed to the news
35:00Networks
35:00But the commanders
35:02In the field
35:02Knew that there was
35:03A critical problem
35:04Iraqi scuds
35:07Which were ballistic missiles
35:08Capable of carrying
35:09Chemical or nuclear warheads
35:11Were penetrating
35:12The U.N. defences
35:13Patriot missile launches
35:15Were meant to intercept
35:16The incoming scuds
35:18But it's now acknowledged
35:19That they missed
35:20Most of them
35:21At Kirtland
35:39When the Patriots
35:40Failure became known
35:41To the laser scientists
35:42They saw an opportunity
35:44To revitalise their quest
35:45Only this time
35:47They would be building
35:48A weapon ready for combat
35:50The notion came clear
35:55To us
35:55That with the advances
35:56In lasers
35:57With the advances
35:58In optics
35:59With the ability
36:00To more precisely
36:01Point the beam
36:02That had obtained
36:03Since 1970
36:04That we had
36:06The possibility
36:07Of putting a very large
36:09Laser on a very large
36:10Aircraft
36:10At very high altitude
36:11So that it was not
36:12Affected by the weather
36:13And still have time
36:15To intersect the boosters
36:16Of theater ballistic missiles
36:18And it was that notion
36:19In 1991 and 1992
36:21Since we really had
36:23No other way
36:24To attack
36:24Theater ballistic missiles
36:26Which convinced
36:27The senior leadership
36:28Of the Air Force
36:29And the Defense Department
36:30To invest in the
36:30Airborne laser
36:31The new weapon
36:33Was named
36:33The attack laser
36:34Although Don Lamberson
36:36Had retired from the Air Force
36:37He was asked to act
36:38As a consultant
36:39As a consultant
36:39On its development
36:40Among the second generation
36:42Kirtlanders
36:42He now advises
36:43Is his son Steve
36:45I grew up here
36:47So I've spent most
36:48Of my life here
36:49At Kirtland
36:49And I think that's
36:51Where the leading edge
36:53Of technology in general
36:55And lasers in particular
36:56Is
36:56I'm the chief scientist
36:59For the ABL program
37:00And what I do
37:01Is integrate
37:02The science
37:03And technology
37:04That a lot of other people
37:05Are working on here
37:06At the laboratory
37:07Into the aircraft
37:08That we're building
37:09To go shoot down
37:10Theater ballistic missiles
37:12Steve Lamberson
37:14Is well aware
37:15Of the old problem
37:16Of atmospheric interference
37:17That limited the range
37:19Of the first airborne laser
37:20But not far from his headquarters
37:23He may have found a solution
37:25At Kirtland's
37:28Starfire Observatory
37:29Astronomers facing
37:30A similar problem
37:31Have developed
37:32An optical device
37:33That is able to
37:34Penetrate the atmosphere
37:35At the base of this telescope
37:38Is an unusual mirror
37:40That bends
37:41This flexible mirror
37:45Is guided by a laser beacon
37:47This attempt
37:50To take the twinkle
37:51Out of starlight
37:52May change
37:53The future
37:53Of laser weapons
37:54The man who pioneered
37:56These optics
37:57Is air force scientist
37:59Bob Fugate
38:00The atmosphere
38:04Has been a problem
38:05For astronomers
38:06Ever since
38:07Newton invented
38:07The telescope
38:08And actually
38:10Newton himself
38:11Realized that
38:12The atmosphere
38:12Was a limiting factor
38:14Starfire's main mission
38:16Is to spy on
38:17And track satellites
38:18But it also gazes
38:20At the stars
38:21Okay let's open
38:22The track loop
38:22Track loop's open
38:24And we'll get set up here
38:25For the next test
38:26Let's try this out here
38:29On this fairly bright star
38:31See what happens
38:33The star the astronomers
38:34Are watching tonight
38:35Is called
38:35Mu Cass
38:36Once the telescope
38:38Is in position
38:39A lurid green laser beam
38:40Is focused
38:41To a point
38:42Eight miles up
38:43In the night sky
38:43The observatory
38:44The observatory
38:45The observatory first
38:45Looks at this point
38:46To see how much
38:47It is distorted
38:48By the atmosphere
38:49The idea is to monitor
38:56How the air is behaving tonight
38:58Let's see
39:03Can we acquire the star
39:05And close the track loop
39:06Track loop is closed
39:08Loop's closed at 4-4
39:10The distortion is viewed
39:13As a shifting pattern
39:14Of dots of light
39:15That's much worse
39:17Okay we've got enough signal
39:20A computer gives the shifts
39:23Precise values
39:25Which are relayed
39:26To the flexible mirror
39:27This mirror
39:29Has tiny motors
39:30Pushing and pulling
39:31Its thin glass surface
39:33To create minuscule variations
39:34Getting some improvement here
39:38The mirror shifts
39:39The dots back
39:40To where they should be
39:41And the atmospheric distortion
39:43Is reduced
39:44The telescope can produce
39:47An image of Mu Cass
39:48Which is so sharp
39:49That the astronomers
39:50Can see the much
39:51Smaller star beside it
39:53Maybe there's something
39:56On the left here
39:57And
39:58Let me stretch the image
40:01A bit here
40:02There it is
40:04There it is
40:04Way to go
40:06All right
40:07The laser beacon
40:13Guiding a flexible mirror
40:14Improves starfire's vision
40:16By a thousand percent
40:17The attack laser scientists
40:20Plan to use the same principle
40:22To focus a high energy beam
40:24On a target
40:34The attack laser's tactical requirements
40:46Its range and reaction time
41:00Have been worked out
41:01Have been worked out by playing war games
41:03See range now
41:05Launch
41:09Launch
41:10Ikea, KBL
41:16We are at 25% laser magazine remaining
41:19We are scrambling
41:20We are scrambling
41:20At Lord AVL
41:21This aircraft is large and vulnerable
41:25So cruises in safe airspace
41:27Sometimes hundreds of miles
41:29From the battlefield
41:29But must project its beam
41:31Deep into enemy territory
41:33To intercept missiles
41:34Soon after takeoff
41:35To locate and track the missile
41:38It needs the heat generated by the rocket boosters
41:41And if the missile is intercepted in its vertical ascent
41:44Any debris
41:45Including a chemical or nuclear warhead
41:48Falls on the enemy who launched it
41:50However, the missiles are only visible
41:59Once they've broken through the cloud cover
42:01Which could be as high as 39,000 feet
42:04So, the attack laser has just 80 seconds
42:07To find, lock onto and destroy a missile
42:11Before the boosters burn out
42:12In this war game
42:15The attack laser has a kill ratio of about 80%
42:19But virtual combat does not impress the skeptics
42:22There are certainly a few folks out there
42:28That will never believe it will work
42:30Until we shoot down the missile
42:31That's the nature of trying to
42:34Trying to develop a revolutionary program like ours
42:38I'm sure the folks that built the first airplane
42:40They had critics
42:41What we do is we try to listen to their arguments
42:44We try to show them data
42:46And we try to answer the criticism with data
42:48So that's tough to argue with
42:49In order to convince the critics
42:55That they can build a laser weapon
42:57With a range of over 200 miles
42:59The scientists are conducting an experiment
43:01With a flexible mirror
43:03A set of rotating scratched lenses
43:16Is used to mimic atmospheric interference
43:19Between the laser and the target
43:21The green beam
43:31The green beam represents a laser beacon
43:33It guides this flexible mirror
43:35To focus a red killer beam
43:37Onto the target
43:39In the 82nd window of opportunity
43:54The red beam must become so focused
43:57Its center is white hot
43:58This experiment
44:01Is a success
44:03It can take a great stretch of imagination
44:05To think of that as an airplane
44:07Shooting at a missile
44:07But the concepts are all there
44:11And not just the concepts
44:13But the carefully controlled
44:15Scaled disturbances
44:18Bandwidths and things
44:19That are necessary
44:20To make a system like that work
44:22Are all there
44:22Once the optics have been tested
44:29The first high energy laser
44:31Will be fired up
44:32Chief Master Sergeant Augie Augustine
44:41Veteran of previous airborne laser flights
44:43Is still serving at Kirtland
44:45He has also been assigned
44:46To the attack laser
44:48And is supervising some ground based trials
44:50This is actually
44:55The first laser module
44:56That will be placed in the aircraft
44:57This is where the beam is produced
44:59This is a real working laser
45:01Not a laboratory experiment
45:03The exact wattage of this laser
45:06Remains secret
45:07Although it's many times more powerful
45:10Than the first airborne laser
45:11It's like comparing a Volkswagen
45:14To a Porsche Carrera
45:15Like its predecessor
45:18The attack laser
45:19Generates its high energy beams
45:20From a violent chemical reaction
45:22Excited oxygen molecules
45:24Are produced by reacting
45:26Hydrogen peroxide
45:27With chlorine
45:28These are then pumped
45:30Into iodine gas
45:31Unleashing a massive burst of energy
45:33The highly excited iodine atoms
45:35Release a scorching beam
45:36Of laser light
45:37Isolation bound to go close
45:39And it's close
45:41The chemistry is so volatile
45:47That during ground based test firings
45:49All personnel are evacuated
45:51From the area
45:51All personnel
45:53Not associated with this test
45:55Must clear the test area
45:56At this time
45:57He will advise that fire and safety
45:59Is beginning a sweep
46:00For all unauthorized personnel
46:01In the test stand
46:02Before we enter a red condition
46:04If the explosive chemistry
46:17Could be brought under control
46:19Fourteen of these
46:20One and a half ton lasers
46:22Will be crammed into an aircraft
46:23So the attack laser
46:25Will not be the nimble fighter
46:27Of Don Lamberson's dreams
46:28It will be a Boeing 747-400
46:32One of the largest aircraft
46:34In the world
46:34The U.S. Air Force
46:39Has ordered a fleet
46:40Of seven attack lasers
46:41And expects delivery
46:43By 2008
46:44We're on schedule
46:46Everything's going on track
46:49We're meeting our technical milestones
46:51As they come along
46:52And we just think
46:55Everything's on schedule
46:56At the moment
46:56We feel we're done
46:58With the physics issues
46:59The laser works
47:00The atmospheric compensation works
47:03We can actively track boosters
47:05Now the issue is
47:06The integration
47:07Or putting it all together
47:09On an airplane
47:09So I'd say
47:10We're out of the physics stage
47:11Into the engineering stage
47:13Five
47:13Four
47:14Three
47:15Two
47:16One
47:17We have a sequence start
47:19This is the stage
47:20Kirtland reached in the 70s
47:22With the airborne laser lab
47:23As the veterans remember
47:25That was when the real problems began
47:28Making it run
47:30Making it reliable
47:31We did that 20 years ago
47:33They'll do that again
47:35Very soon
47:36The biggest fundamental issue
47:38Is that you have to propagate
47:39The laser through the atmosphere
47:40At very, very precise conditions
47:42You have to control it very carefully
47:43You have to point it very, very carefully
47:45For many, many hundreds of kilometers
47:48That's the hard part
47:49Despite huge obstacles
47:58High-energy laser scientists
48:00Have always persevered
48:02The quest to build a death ray
48:04Has outlasted nine presidencies
48:06The end of the Cold War
48:08And more than 45 billion dollars
48:10Of government money
48:11It's not just scientists
48:20Who have been dazzled
48:21By the potential of laser weapons
48:23Politicians and generals
48:25Have shared this sci-fi dream
48:26Forty years later
48:29The death ray fantasy
48:30Of bringing peace through light
48:32Is about to be tested
48:33But for some star warriors
48:36There is still a long way to go
48:38Before they reach
48:39The final frontier
48:40Five, four, six
48:51How was that like?
49:10Well, it's the highest it went so far
49:12I'll have to ask Frank
49:15How high it went
49:16Blake, that was 91 feet
49:19Beats everything we've ever done
49:24And it beats the second flight
49:26Of Goddard to 90 feet
49:27Good work
49:28Congratulations
49:30Yeah, that's fantastic
49:34Lasers aren't just used
49:41For high-tech weapons
49:42They're all around us
49:44For a special illustrated booklet
49:45Explaining what they do
49:47And how they work
49:48Send a check or postal order
49:49For £4
49:50Payable to Channel 4
49:51To Equinox
49:53Dawn of the Death Ray
49:54PO Box 4000
49:55Manchester
49:56M60
49:573LL
49:58Mount Everest
50:12The highest point on Earth
50:13It's called the Death Zone
50:16Because the air is so thin
50:18The views make it more lit
50:20Those who enter
50:21Pay a high price
50:23My body is deteriorating
50:24The early warning signs
50:27Are primarily headache
50:28Followed by dizziness
50:30It's alive
50:31It's been a hell of a day
50:33What the Death Zone
50:34Does to the brain
50:35Equinox
50:36Thin Air
50:37Next Tuesday at 9
50:38On 4
50:39Pathlessly
50:51To Etc
50:52The Bible
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