Laser Tag, Navy Style: Us Navy Wants a 100 Kilowatt Laser Weapon for Its Warships
June 19th, 2009
The Office of Naval Research – not to be confused with the Office of Navel Research, a pet project of the previous president – recently awarded defense contractor Raytheon a year-long contract to develop laz0rb33mz. No seriously, the US Navy wants to have a 100-kilowatt Free Electron Laser as a weapon that will be installed on naval warships. Marvel Comics Popular Mechanics explains: “A FEL uses superconducting electron accelerators to produce high-power laser beams that could target cruise missiles, airplanes or boats.” Uhuh. I see. That’s… I see.
Yeah I give up. I don’t even know what’s on the picture. I just find it incredible that the stuff I used to place under “fiction/nightmares” is coming true right before my eyes. Laser weapons? Are you freaking kidding me? The article added that the Raytheon contract was just the first step in a $150 million, three-phase Dr. Evil ONR program.
100-kilowatt laser weapons. Wow. And yet a lot of the problems that were already around when I was a kid are still here today. Like world hunger. Or civilians not having super powers or laser weapons. Seriously. Someone please do something about that.
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Categories: Future Tech Strange + Wonderful Technology
Hope they don’t arm those robots who can rebuild themselves with these. We’ll all be screwed.
Oh you’ll love this then lol. I think I remember reading somewhere that it can melt a 15″ hole in a tank from 5 miles away.
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/abl/
And there’s also this Boeing beauty, I’m pretty sure it’s a bigger version of the ABL. I think this is the one that melts tanks lol.
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q3/080813a_nr.html