Nuclear-pumped X-ray laser weapons are constrained to have an output beam divergence that is at least as great as a certain minimum value. Because this value is large, such weapons used for ballistic missile defence will require disturbingly high megatonnages in space: for example, a total of ≥ 73 megatons within range of 1,000 attacking missiles, with individual warheads up to 3.7 megatons or higher.
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Walbridge, E. Angle constraint for nuclear-pumped X-ray laser weapons. Nature 310, 180–182 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/310180a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/310180a0