Charged-particle beam weapons?

The article discusses anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems relative to charge-particle-beam ABM weapon. The early U.S. ABM programs involves hitting a ballistic missile warhead with another one. Charged-particle beam (CPB) weapons could be used in various ABM systems. A ground-based charged-particle beam could shoot through the atmosphere to destroy reentry vehicles in midcourse. Such a system would require long-range radars to detect and track reentry vehicles. The system must also be able to discriminate against decoys, generate the charged-particle beam, point and track the beam and propagate that beam through the atmosphere.