With Friggin' Lasers

Our high tech dreams may actually come true. The United States has asked for a measly $300 Million to start working on particle beams and friggin' lasers...in space! There is a new arms race. China and Russia have been developing anti-satellite weaponry for a while now in hopes that they can crush the United States advantage of having the ultimate high ground and our eyes in the sky. Should a conflict break out, our GPS and imaging satellites along with whatever else we have up there would potentially be at risk.With the development and acceleration of "space weapons", in the sense that they can be used on targets in outer space, the United States has asked for cash money to fund laser satellites and even launching a particle beam weapon into orbit.What is the difference between a particle beam and a laser? Hell if we know, but we're going to try to explain it anyways.A laser deals damage by heating something up with light. A particle beam is a "kinetic" weapon in that it accelerates a shitload of tiny (non-photon) subatomic particles to extremely high speeds. And we all remember F=MA right? Force=Mass * Acceleration. So even if the particle beam particles are extremely small...if you get the speed high enough and have enough particles...lots of energy slamming into a target (insert great 'your momma joke' right here).We're assuming...or hoping...or totally off base, but the lasers would be defensive in nature against ICBMs or missiles targeting the satellites, the particle beam would primarily be an offensive weapon. Droppin...erm shootin' mad particles at a muthafuka!Yeah, we tried this in the '80s but the tech back then was waaaay too big to equip on anything in orbit. The sheer scope of the idea was just not cost efficient or feasible at the time. Now, however, shits small and it's going to take a mere drop in the bucket, financially speaking, to research and hopefully get a working prototype.And it'd give us a huge edge against Russia and China, adding possibly a theoretical third line of defense against enemy ICBMs.