From: andrewbetter@gmail.com   
      
   Thanks for the response.   
   It makes sense that the plasma wouldn't be useful for pumping the laser; I   
   hadn't really thought about that.  But wouldn't it still be possible to   
   essentially shape or control the explosion without actually including a mass   
   of stuff to be turned into    
   plasma?  In other words, there is still a radiation case, but no tungsten or   
   other material to be turned into plasma.  So not a Casaba-Howitzer per se, I   
   suppose, just a shaped nuclear weapon using some of the same ideas.  This   
   would reduce the need for    
   a lot of expensive lasing rods and their associated targeting systems, I would   
   think, while still increasing the range/power for a given nuclear weapon.    
   Would that sort of thing make sense?   
      
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