Laser Target Designator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1984
name: label: maker
content: Hughes Aircraft Company
notes: label: Description
content: A beam-type weapon, long familiar to science fiction fans, became a reality after the invention of lasers. That reality differed from fictional “ray guns” however. Rather than destroy a target directly, a solder used this battery-operated, portable laser to illuminate a selected target. A missile or other munition equipped with a special sensor detected the reflected light then homed-in on, and destroyed, the target.
label: Description
content: This model AN/PAQ-1 laser target designator was developed at Hughes Aircraft Company following Theodore Maiman's creation of the first successful laser in May 1960. Before donating the laser to the museum in 1987, the U.S. Army removed a classified component so the laser will no longer function.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Laser
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: Energy & Power
label: See more items in
content: Lasers
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Hughes Aircraft Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0026.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0026
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0026.01
label: model number
content: AN/PAQ-1
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Laser, military
label: Object Name
content: laser
label: Other Terms
content: Laser, military; Lasers and Masers
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (strap material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 cm x 59 cm x 36 cm; 3 15/16 in x 23 1/4 in x 14 3/16 in