Beam Me Up, Scotty!

Star Trek had it right the whole time. Remember the way those spaceships shot down enemy aircraft with ray guns? ZAP! ZAP! Some predicted that fiction would become reality and that we really would use laser beams to shoot down enemy aircraft in the future, but I never fell for that idea. I had read the truth, which was that lasers would not—could not—ever be strong enough to shoot that far with that much power. At least I thought it was the truth.

I was wrong.

Folks, our guvmint has on order a “beam control system” that will do exactly that—shoot down incoming enemy airplanes and mortar shells with lasers. The system is mounted on a vehicle that resembles the result of a mating twixt a fire truck and a dump truck. It combines multiple lasers to reach the concentration needed to get the job done.

I didn’t dream this up. I got it from Aviation Week & Space Technology.

If I got it right, it will be—at this point, anyway—a defensive weapon to protect, for example, borders and, say, airports?

What next? Dick Tracy was way ahead of reality with his “two-way wrist radio.” Now Star Trek has, once again, proven that truth follows fiction.

What’s next? Will we really beam people up to the mother ship?