There is a particular government project that has been in development since 1996, that is about 11 years. The name of the project is Skyguard. The idea is to protect an area of about 3 miles from missiles or even shells that are shot at it. We have often heard about shields and such, that protect against weapons fire and bombs, but this was science fiction. While this system certainly is not a shield weapon, it is the next best thing. We probably will see it deployed first near the White House and the Pentagon. It is obvious that if this works as well as they say it does, it will be quite good at protection. It is also obvious that nuclear weapons are a whole other ball game and this would allow them to get too close to the target, the same for shells loaded with bio toxins. Could there be another version of this thing that has a larger range? Well a three mile radius means that you can protect an area about 6 miles by 6 miles. That is three miles north, three miles south, three miles east and three miles west.

There are actually two systems that are called Skyguard that I know of. One is made by Raytheon and is called Skyguard Amoun. This one was tested on a range near Cairo, Egypt. It is a ground based system, that is designed to protect what is known as high value assets. This would be things like cities, airports and maybe even the Sphinx or Pyramids, in this case. It consists of a launcher that fires a Sparrow missile along with a ground based platform that contains a continuous wave radar. Perhaps you already know what a Sparrow missile is. It has been carried on military jets for years and is an offensive weapon. It is a radar guided missile with a high explosive war head. The idea is to set up batteries of Sparrow firing launchers. One battery equals two launchers of four missiles each with one fire control radar unit. The unit accomplished the successful destruction of the targets it was tested against. The good thing about these batteries is that they used tried and true technology to accomplish their task and the whole thing is cost effective.

The other Skyguard system is made by Northrop Grumman and is a high energy laser system. Its entire purpose is to defeat incoming rounds of any type. They could be from artillery, missiles, or even bombs. This thing could probably even stop a bullet, that is how accurate it is said to be. One laser type has demonstrated that it can shoot down almost anything in tests and that is the laser that is used. The system will use components that are already developed and there will be no research involved to find effective technology, because they claim that they already have it. It is said that the Skyguard system will be 1/4 the size of the current system and 1/2 the cost, making it an attractive package. Northrop Grumman Space Technology has been in the high energy laser weapon field for over 30 years and certainly has some experience under its corporate belt. Putting one of these on the battlefield and moving it up as your troops advance, might provide a protective umbrella above them. The cost is said to be between 150 and 200 million but is projected to fall to 30 million if a lot of these are made.

The company is selling them all over the world. The first foreign country that was offered one was Israel. It does make one wonder what good such a weapon will be if everyone has it? All it does is ratchet up the conflict and the only winner seems to be the arms dealers and manufacturers. Since it will be wide spread, it will be copied and before you know it, every country in the world will have these things. Isn't that the problem with all these arms? If the system is as good as they say it is, would it have been prudent to have kept it for ourselves? Sure the industrial complex would have been furious, but so what? They seem to be running things, not the government. In their press release, Northrop Grumman stated that they were developing the Skyguard Laser Defense System for the U.S. and its allies to defend against rockets, missiles and mortar attacks. It will be interesting to see who they are sold to.

The Skyguard system is a portable system, so it will be fairly easy to move.The president of Northrop Grumman's Directed Energy Systems business area said, "This test bed has been remarkably successful. To date, it has shot down dozens of live threats, including long- and short-range rockets, mortars and artillery projectiles, in very realistic attack scenarios, and under simulated operational conditions such as surprise attacks and mixed threats." It has been tested in continuous use since 2000 at the White Sands Missile Range and has proven to be very reliable. One thing that I noticed on the description of this system by the company is when they described what it can defend they stated, "Skyguard is a ground-based, defensive high-energy laser weapon system capable of defending against short-range ballistic missiles, short-and long-range rockets, artillery shells, mortars, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and cruise missiles." Did you notice that long-range ballistic missiles were left out? I wonder why? If they came into the radar's range, you would think that they would be treated the same as a short range ballistic missile wouldn't you? Maybe I am just reading too much into this.

Another use for this weapon, that the company describes, is against hand held weapons meant to take down aircraft that are landing or taking off. They state that this weapon could protect an airport and since it fires at the speed of light (laser), it is able to take out the offensive missile as soon as it detects it. Another use that is talked about is the defense of sea ports. One of these devices should be able to give a seaport considerable protection. So how far along is this system? Northrop Grumman officials stated that they could be put around airports by 2008.

Here is how this systems works:
First it has to find the target. It uses an infrared camera to constantly scan the sky form 6 to 10 miles out, looking for suspicious heat emissions. If it finds one, it sends the coordinates to an identification and tracking system built into the system. Next the computer checks the heat signature against its data bank to confirm whether or not it has detected a hostile object, like a missile or shell. If it decides that it is hostile, it activates the laser. Gas is sent into the laser that heats up atoms and they are sent to resonator mirrors. The mirrors focus the high energy beam. Lastly a burst is sent from the laser, which is aimed at the offending object. While it is doing this, the system computer also notifies other computers of the fix on the incoming ordnance.

Lastly, the laser has been put up against multiple mortar salvos, multiple rocket salvos, missiles, cruise missiles and much more. It has knocked everything out of the sky. It is beginning to look like star wars technology is finally here. Just one last word, I sure hope that it never makes a mistake at the airport and mistakes a plane's exhaust for an incoming missile.