[citation][nom]TommySch[/nom]If you can get a network of these babies up and running on a NATO scale, its time to make our move on China. If there is no possible retaliation its time to go for the kill.[/citation]
Technically, China's nuclear threat is already pretty limited; unlike the USA or Russia, (or even the UK) China has very limited ICBM technology, limited to a handful of bulky, crude missiles, that lack their own concealed silos. Hence, their locations are kept constantly monitored, so any attempt to move them onto launch pads for fueling and firing would be immediately noticed, and almost certainly be met with a quick strike by stealth plane or cruise missile to neutralize the rocket before it could be launched.
Of course, China has a good number of sub-intercontinental BMs on hand, which could readily target the likes of South Korea or Japan.
[citation][nom]Tossum[/nom]If a ICBM nuke was shot down with this laser, does the warhead become inactive, or, as is the current situation playing out in my mind- will the thing, on its way to America, fall out of the sky and explode onto my bloody house?[/citation]
If it was targetted while still boosting, the warhead would not have been given the arming sequence, and hence would not detonate. In all designs for such missiles, the warheads are only armed once they go into the terminal "fall" part of their trajectory. Given that all modern warheads are given extensive measures to prevent their accidental/unauthorized detonation, even damaging the warhead itself would be sufficient enough to ensure it wouldn't detonate... Though it very likely could break apart and spread radioactive waste over a good-sized area.
As for the safety measures, all modern warhead designs require a complicated timing mechanism to multiple ignition wires so that each connected point of the explosives sets off at the EXACT same moment; if that fails, then the nuclear core is simply shoved out of the bomb by the force, and fails to be compressed and detonated. While a missile would have been given the correct ignition code to set off properly, (provided its launch was authorized by the President of the USA/Russia/China/etc. all of whom being those that carry their respective codes) it wouldn't have armed until the guidance system was sure it was going to hit its target.
But even if it was in the terminal stage, a defensive strike that sent the missile off-course would still likely rip the warhead apart from the sheer force, if not the heat of re-entry; their heat shield only protects them if they're facing the correct direction, and it's un-damaged. (as evidenced by the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia)
[citation][nom]wiyosaya[/nom]AFAIK, that concept has been shelved. The nukes were needed to generate the energy for a high-power X-ray laser. At that time, no other means was known for the production of coherent X-rays. Since then, there have been other methods developed to generate coherent X-rays that do not require the use of a nuke as a trigger. The reason for the X-rays was that X-rays allow you to focus significantly more energy than radiation at the wavelengths at which optical lasers typically operate. The power density achievable is a function of the square of the wavelength. Cutting the wavelength by a factor of two gives you a factor of four in terms of achievable energy density. Yet with advances in laser technology, significantly higher power output is available from solid state and other more conventional (i.e., lasers not operating at X-ray wavelengths) lasers today than in those days.[/citation]
Yes, the concept was shelved, for reasons including those I mentioned. (i.e, being expensive and single-shot) Of course, it was also impractical because while no treaty explicitly forbids the deployment of nukes to space, the Partial Test-Ban Treaty still forbade TESTING such a device.
Although regrettably, it also appears you neglected the main point I'd brought that comment up to address: managing to get that sort of power in a satellite-based laser. Certainly, there are already much more potent lasers (including of visible wavelengths) that have been built, tested, and could be weaponized as such. However, all of them, once you include a source of power capable of enabling them, would be far too bulky for use in orbit.
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