US laser warplane under threat from Barack Obama

Military: Leave the awesome laser plane of doom alone. If its over budget then make it come under budget which keeps it in development. In all seriousness, this is the future of warfare and any program that has made progress with the weapons of tomorrow should be kept going as long as verifiable progress is made.

One of first the first decisions of US defence that the President-elect will face in office will be whether or not to continue funding for the futuristic Airborne Laser weapons programme. The system aims to send an invisible, ultra-powerful laser beam from aircraft hundreds of miles from their targets, and could one day alter the nature of aerial warfare. Primarily designed to strike enemy missile silos, the US Missile Defence Agency has called the ABL the answer to "rogue states" or terror groups equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles. The first, very limited, test firing was staged in late November. The laser was loaded on to a Boeing 747 and fired from a stationary plane at a target on the ground just a few yards away. But already 12 years in the making and way over budget at $4.3 billion (£2.9 billion), developers Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman fear it could fall victim to the new administration as it seeks to save costs. Mr Obama has stated a preference for abandoning weapons whose efficacy is not yet proven. Boeing is now planning to develop the weapon's planned target range to include aircraft and enemy ballistic missiles in flight.