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Pentagon leaders on Thursday defended their fiscal 2007 budget before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, stressing that cost-cutting proposals on the Joint Strike Fighter and other military hardware programs are central to their long-term plans.
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The multibillion-dollar Airborne Laser program, considered the Pentagon's best chance to develop a weapon to defeat ballistic missiles in their early, boost phase of flight, is being relegated to a technology demonstration status while a planned five-aircraft purchase by the Air Force is put on hold
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More than a century after HG Wells' fictitious Martians used their 'heat-rays' to barbecue half the UK armed forces and to cut a warship in half, it is still unclear exactly when effective, 'speed-of-light' high-energy laser technology will enter the battlefield.
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