In a test conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in February 1996, the U.S. Army used a laser to destroy a short-range rocket in flight at the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Command's High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility as part of the Nautilus program. The bright white spot on the tip of the target rocket is the laser beam. This was the first time a laser engaged and destroyed a short-range rocket in flight. This was also the first time that a warhead was exploded in flight by any developmental or operational weapon system. The laser used for the Nautilus program is a megawatt class, continuous wave Deuterium Fluoride chemical laser known as Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser or MIRACL.