Editing Strategic Defense Initiative (section)

===Neutral particle beam===
In July 1989, the Beam Experiments Aboard a Rocket (BEAR) program launched a sounding rocket containing a neutral [[particle beam]] (NPB) accelerator.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA338597 | title=BEAR (Beam Experiments Aboard a Rocket) Project. Volume 1: Project Summary | date=January 1990 | last1=Nunz | first1=G. J. }}</ref> The experiment successfully demonstrated that a particle beam would operate and propagate as predicted outside the atmosphere and that no unexpected side-effects emerged when firing the beam in space. After the rocket was recovered, the particle beam was still operational. According to BMDO, the research on neutral particle beam accelerators, originally funded by SDIO, could eventually be used to reduce the [[half-life]] of nuclear waste products using [[Subcritical reactor|accelerator-driven transmutation technology]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/accelerator-driven-nuclear-energy.aspx | title=Accelerator-driven Nuclear Energy &#124; Accelerator Driven Systems &#124; Transmutation - World Nuclear Association }}</ref>