Noah Shachtman at Wired’s Danger Room blog reports that residents of a southern Israeli town are demanding a “laser cannon” to
protect them against Palestinian rocket attacks. They are suing the
government of Israel for failing to provide the ray gun defense. Snip:
Northrop [Grumman] is pushing an upgraded [Tactical High Energy Laser], under the name SkyGuard, which it says can fit into just three cargo containers. Newspapers have been howling for the government to put the laser defenses in place; the volume has only gone up since Hezbollah launched a series of rocket attacks against northern Israel in 2006, and since Hamas started firing longer-range rockets at southern Israel earlier this year. But the Israeli military has said that the sci-fi-esque system is still not ready for a real-world deployment.
Link to full post.