WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (AP) -- A new laser weapon being developed to protect Israel from short-range missile attacks shot down a target rocket for the first time in a successful test, project officials said.
The Tactical High Energy Laser took out a short-range Katyusha rocket on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. John Costello said in a statement issued by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Alabama. Later tests will attempt to shoot down multiple rockets.
A string of rocket attacks on Israel in 1996 prompted President Clinton to approve the program by the Army and the Israeli Ministry of Defense to develop the $250 million weapon. Congress is considering an additional $5.7 million for the laser.
Army officials planned to turn it over to Israel this fall if tests proved it effective. Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon has said it is up to Israel to disclose how and when it plans to deploy the new weapon. The Soviet-designed Katyusha rockets are used by Hezbollah guerrillas against Israel.
The laser weapon is being built under contract by Cleveland-based TRW Space and Laser Programs Division. Costs have been shared by the Israeli and U.S. governments.
Although this would be the first laser weapon built for defense against rockets, the Defense Department has said it has no immediate plan to use it with U.S. forces, in part because the system is not easily transportable. The Pentagon is working on a variety of other laser-weapon technologies that could be used to shoot down ballistic missiles in flight, although deployment of such weapons is at least a decade away.
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