Word: lasering
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...specially outfitted 747 used an onboard laser beam last week to shoot down a missile for the first time. It was, perhaps just as significantly, a flying military-industrial complex all by itself. Boeing (the nation's third-biggest defense contractor) built the plane that carried the laser (built by Northrop Grumman, the nation's second biggest defense contractor) that was aimed by Lockheed Martin (the nation's biggest defense contractor). It took the three companies 14 years (eight more than expected) and $4 billion ($3 billion more than anticipated) to finally shoot down the fake enemy missile over...
...basketball-size beam traveling 670 million m.p.h. (1,078 km/h) - the speed of light - blazed from the 747's nose. The beam focused on the missile and - like a kid torturing an ant with a magnifying glass - incinerated it. It fit the criterion enunciated in 2008 by Boeing's laser chief Mike Rinn: "There's nothing like flaming wreckage" to prove such lasers are not science fiction. (See the obstacles in the way of the Strategic Defense Initiative...
...after shooting down the missile, the three companies' p.r. shops deployed superlatives in close formation. Lockheed boasted that the test "validates the effectiveness of this revolutionary technology." Northrop declared the laser's "unprecedented mobility, precision and lethality" will lead to "game-changing technology for our military forces." Boeing said "the capability to precisely project force, in a measured way, at the speed of light, will save lives."(See a brief history of intergalactic warfare...
...jobs. "Today's successful test should be a wake-up call to the Administration, and I'm again calling on the President to restore full funding to the program immediately," GOP Congressman Todd Tiahrt of Kansas said within hours of the test. Many of his constituents work on the laser plane at Boeing's Wichita plant, where Tiahrt too was employed for 14 years. "We know the threat from rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea is very real, and we should be doing everything possible to counter this threat...
...will the dining hall staff know you’re not a Winthrop imposter? It’s ingenious, really. The House tutors will implant a computer chip in each student that will be scanned by laser beams when you enter the dining hall...oh wait, that plan was scrapped. They’re giving students stickers to put on their...