Some time between midnight and 4 a.m. Saturday, a modified 747 flying off of the California coast will aim its laser weapon at a missile more than a hundred miles away. The order will be given for the plane to fire a beam of high-powered coherent light. The laser will start burning a hole in the skin of the short-range, liquid-fueled missile as it rises into the sky. Fifty seconds later, the missile will fall into the Pacific Ocean.
That’s if everything goes according to plan, of course.