Able One

The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser program may be on life support in real life, but in the world of fiction, it's still on life support.

There's a new book due out in February 2010 titled "Able One" and written by prolific science fiction novelist Ben Bova. It chronicles the crew of the first ABL aircraft as they respond to the launch of a nuclear missile by a group of rogue North Koreans that explodes in space. The ensuing electromagnetic pulse fries most of the commercial satellites in orbit.

According to the back-cover blurb on the advance copy just received by InsideDefense.com today:

When a nuclear missile launched by a rogue North Korean faction explodes in space, the resulting shockwave destroys most of the world's satellites, throwing global communications into chaos. U.S. military satellites, designed to withstand such an assault, show that two more missiles are sitting on launch pads in North Korea, ready to be deployed. Faced with the threat of a thermonuclear attack, the United States has only one possible defense: Able One.

ABL-1, or Able One, is a modified 747 fitted with a high-powered laser able to knock out missiles in flight. But both the laser's technology and the jet's crew is untested. What was originally a training flight with a skeleton crew turns into a desperate race to destroy the two remaining nukes. Will Able One's experimental technology be enough to prevent World War III -- especially when it becomes clear that a saboteur is on board?

We won't spoil the ending for you -- you'll just have to get your own copy in February.