Laser Weapons in WinMBT...
From a Defense Analyst friend of mine: Stuart Slade
MTHEL is actually doing quite well. My understanding is that the pre-production systems are due to be deployed in 2009, only a year behind schedule. They were going to go to Korea but I guess Iraq is a better bet now.
Basically, battlefield lasers will arrive pretty soon (at least for the US)
This has some game engine implications for WinMBT. You can actually now shoot down artillery shells, mortar shells, and rockets in flight; I don't know how you could represent this, except as a special "counterbattery" class which can intercept rockets, etc.
The 2009 system will be three-tractor trailer sized loads, and probably will be used for base defense against rocket attacks, which has limited applications to WinMBT.
However, by 2015 or so, they'll have shrunk it to something which can actually be packed into the back of a Humvee (one of the design goals of the MTHEL program); making laser-based close air defense widespread (at least in the US Army).
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