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Hey, I've recently revamped this article considerably as can be seen in the edit history. All the large IP user edits in the last while were by me, the Irish IP. I'm just here looking for feedback on the edits and any assistance with:
(a) more info on the testing history and its results.
(b) a complete explanation for how the W71, its predecessor, morphed into the Excalibur. It appears to me rather suspect that seen as the W71 was established tech at the time, George Chapline seemingly didn't realize that "heavier metals"/high Z materials would make the x-ray laser work. With the story going that, it took Peter Hagelstein to "calculate" that heavier metals would work. I find this story strange as, like I said, the heavy metal utilizing W71 already existed and so heavier metals, shouldn't have been a surprise to either of them?
(c) Was it really "cancelled"? Or did it just get re-named and the project go dark/ceased public releases of info - as often happens in this murky world of nuclear gadgetry? I mean, sure the infinite range focused "star wars" laser beam that the concept brings to mind probably didn't transpire, but as an improvement over the W71, it surely was more energetic & focused than that design, and for all intents and purposes fit the design requirements, no? Sure we've all read that, in particular, with respect to the degree of focusing. It probably was oversold by Teller etc, but for the life of me I can't understand why it wasn't fielded - unless it was a complete and utter failure. Therefore as I haven't got that impression, I personally think it is on US subs, an opinion that rightly doesn't have any evidence to support it, but I have a hunch. 178.167.254.22 (talk) 04:52, 16 November 2014 (UTC)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nv2v0fCAONwC&pg=PA128#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/apr/01/science.research1
What this section says seems plausible. But the citations here doesn't support what is said, that it was moved to idea of popups in Alaska for compliance with the OST. The source given just says
"Pop-up A mode of deployment for a weapon or sensor system that is based on the ground or on ships at sea and is launched or popped-up into space where it operates when needed. Frequently used in reference to the Excalibur X-ray laser that would be launched from submarines."
Which doesn't mention a motive at all, just defines the term.
This is another source I found that says it was done because of military vulnerability of satellites in orbit, that if the satellite itself was targetted by an enemy, it can only protect itself by blowing itself up.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nv2v0fCAONwC&pg=PA135#v=onepage&q&f=false
Of course it could easily have more than one motivation.
The OST prohibits weapons of mass destruction in orbit, and though not intended for mass destruction, rather for defence, I think it probably would be against the OST because of its possible use for mass destruction. So the reasoning does seem quite plausible.
My question though is, is this stated as the actual reason for moving to a popup status anywhere - or alternatively - is it perhaps a later chain of reasoning in support of a decision already made for other reasons - or what is it? If we had a proper cite, we could check details like that. Anyone got a cite for it? It should be removed of course if OR. But I think probably more a case of "citation needed". Robert Walker (talk) 21:14, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
It says in the Conceptual predecessors section:
Although this statement correctly identifies the limitation of a nuclear warhead as an x-ray antiballistic missile weapon as due to the drop in intensity due to the inverse square law, the inverse square law applies to all radiation, including laser beams. A laser beam is not perfectly collimated and has an angular spread and its intensity also falls as the square of the distance. It is just that since the energy is concentrated into such a narrow angle the decrease in intensity is very slow. --ChetvornoTALK 13:21, 22 August 2015 (UTC)
What's "Broad (1986)" meant to be a cite to? I guess this is Star Warriors, but that was published in 1985. Andy Dingley (talk) 11:53, 3 June 2017 (UTC)
Does this article really need a big section on BMD history? Or more importantly, does it need to invent dubious political opinions like SDI had a"negative impact" upon negotiations? Along with pushing the earlier "hawks"/doves dichotomy that I seem to have successfully convinced Maury to remove? Though perhaps most emblematic, the still standing use of caricatures imagined by 1 journalist of events they weren't even privy to be a part of?...I mean come on, do we really need any of this kind of thing in an encyclopedia?
Yes, I am aware of the Dem-Republican political circus is real big stuff in the US, but why do editors let their personal feelings dictate how to present the "other team", it is not only sad but I'm not comfortable with how distorted this article is being written.
William Broad, the journalist,with his fantasy "imagination" of events, is utter junk. Why is User:Maury Markowitz even motivated to include this literal garbage? You even reveal that you're aware that it's garbage and the product of a sad man's imagination, with this edit summary: [1] As a bit of a backstory, I tagged this paragraph as dubious initially. With the edit summary:William Broad, was not in the oval ofice so where exactly does this tale come from? Broad's imagination? It certainly looks that way & In your above edit summary, you write back, Yes, precisely!"...So let me get this straight, you were fully, 100% aware that it's caricaturing junk. Yet you (1) initially mischaracterized it as "Broad described the meeting", then (2) agree with me that it's actually just imagination-land stuff but (3) You don't think to just strike it all out? You see no issues with readers of the article wasting their time reading about the caricaturing nonsense that 1 nobody-jounalist dreamt up?
Can you see why I find this all a bit troubling?
It almost seems like you want me to know you vote democrat, or at the very least that you have a real personal biasing antipathy directed at Reagan & Teller. I wasn't even born at the time, and though I'm no fan of Reagan's Guatemalan involvement, could you at least attempt to write neutrally?
I get it, you don't like Teller, you're in the Oppenheimer camp and you vote democrat. Are we really still stuck in this same tired loop? It's 2017. Readers expect quality not reading about how 1 reporter liked to imagine things when he was writing his hit-piece. Come on Maury you're better than this. Let go of the politics and step away from Demo/Repub-kool-aid counter.
Boundarylayer (talk) 06:04, 5 July 2017 (UTC)
Maury Markowitz (talk) 11:38, 10 July 2017 (UTC)
As an editor and a reader, I do not appreciate having the political leanings of whomever wrote the article, practically exuding from the page. That is a problem, don't you see that?
@Maury Markowitz: I think this is an excellent article on a controversial topic. This well researched and sourced article properly covers the personalities and politics which were behind this divisive research project. Congrats on a job well done. --ChetvornoTALK 18:32, 30 July 2019 (UTC)
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The redirect Excalibur (make a separate article) has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 May 16 § Excalibur (make a separate article) until a consensus is reached. Dsuke1998AEOS (talk) 19:57, 16 May 2023 (UTC)
the article mentions several attemps to make x-ray lasers that seemed to function well, only to mention much later that there were problems with the instrumentation such that the laser effect never really appeared(at least that is what I understood here, the article being long and convoluted). Did they ever make a functioning X-ray laser or did all their tries just end up in failure/ instrument error? if so, how can they be in front of "the first x-ray laser" ? 46.15.174.40 (talk) 07:47, 27 June 2024 (UTC)