The next test is set for late May or June. Installed on Aegis cruisers, the system's interceptors would crash into missiles in space. Some analysts question whether the system has enough power to catch faster-moving intercontinental missiles. They note that the Navy would use a smaller version of the land-based interceptor and thus would have the same trouble discerning warheads from decoys. The Navy will conduct its first intercept test this fall.
Cost estimates vary.
The challenge is daunting. Ship crews would have less than four minutes to hit a missile before it reached space. Some scientists say that an interceptor fast enough to home in on a missile while its rocket plume is still burning would have to be so big that only a converted Trident submarine or a barge could hold it. Even so, experts say such a system could be deployed by 2007. The Air Force hopes to conduct the first test of its airborne laser in 2003 and deploy it on a Boeing 747 cargo jet before 2007.