Orbital Laser Weapons

[Adam Parsons]

What kind of TL would be needed in order for the US to have a system of orbiting laser-armed satellites capable of wiping out buildings by 1995? How would world politics change now that the US has a relatively "clean" WMD?

[LDoc]

well first u would need technology way more advanced then we currently have. In fact I don't know if its possible for lassers to blow up a building from space as their would be to much interference such as dust and clouds and things like that.

[Arch-Angel]

You also have to figure that as soon as these things are made public nations are going to go ape shit, and traditionally paranoid and/or less than friendly (DPRK, China, Iran, Iraq assuming its not occupied, and like) are going to have heart attacks and will be pressuring us to get rid of them and/or try to get there own.

[tom]

The lack of an atmosphere would help space to space range, but diffraction would still put an upper limit.

[Chris]

Plasma packets or directed energy might work better for the effects you want. That said, i suspect that everyone would be frantically pressing their own efforts at deploying such weapons, which the US had better prevent, or else.

Chris