so when can a mere mortal get one you know to shoot deer with
Posted on 03/23/2009 4:03:59 PM PDT by Flavius
Science fiction fans and generals alike have long fantasized about what it'd be like to have a laser weapon at their command. Now at last such dreams are nearing reality. After years of steady milestone progress, military contractor Northrop Grumman has reached a significant mark -- the first 100 kW steady-state laser.
The laser is part of the Joint High-Powered Solid State Laser Phase 3 Program, which combines 8 lasers in chain fashion to create a "superlaser" of sorts. Each laser can deliver up to 15.3 kW individually and is about the size of a large briefcase. Together they form a unit about the size of a couple garbage dumpsters stacked together, which can deliver a peak beam of 105.5 kW. The device has operated continuously for 5 minutes, a major landmark in integrity.
The beam quality is an impressive 3.0 or better, and full power is reached in 0.6 seconds.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytech.com ...
so when can a mere mortal get one you know to shoot deer with
How dangerous is a laser beam of 105.5 kW? Its not measured in Doc Brown’s jigawats, so Im really lost.
Dangerous? VERY. Able to remotely detonate a mortar round in flight, which is one of the first uses this thing is being setup to do.
Steaming hot, too. Just slide a few dozen plates under it and go to it.
So far, this is all I found about it...
If one is as big as a large briefcase, why are 8 the size of a dumpster? Does the first not include power supply? Control system?
100 kW x 1,000 = One hundred thousand watts.
It's the benchmark for the planned solid state lasers that will be installed in the F-35 stealth fighters.
This is me testing my new one in D.C. I had to borrow Dennis Kucinich's car...
A 100 thousand Watt laser, all you need is a tracking/guidance system, and that would make the movie Real Genious, like really real. Really.
Awesome, until it gets degraded by smoke and mylar chaff.
War robots killing other war robots means intelligent machines have started the same high speed evolutionary process that drove human evolution.
Carried on-board a specially modified 747, the ABL was originally and primarily designed for anti-ballistic defense, to be used during the boost-phase of the ICBM’s launch. That was and remains the primary focus of this laser effort. . . not counter-mortar fire.
Of course, with Ashton Carter now heading to take over OSD/ATL, the ABL is in real danger of being cancelled, as Aston is a rabid anti-ballistic defense zealot, as is The Dear Leader.
The first lethal firing of the BAL is supposed to take place this year, we shall see if the funding remains after the 21st of April when the DoD budget is released (or perhaps later, as rumors have the budget release even later, in May).
As far as Boeing and battlefield uses, Boeing is developing the Airborne Tactical Laser (ATL), for use on tactical targets, as the name says, and that means the battlefield.
A remaining technical challenge is to reduce the size and weight of the laser generators, as they consume tons of chemicals to achieve the lethality they need.
a 100 milliwatt laser will cleanly cut 20 lb bond white paper at about 1 inch per second. 105.5 KW would be 1000000 times more powerful.
A reporter questioned one of our Generals about its effectiveness against enemy troops. He replied:
“Certainly we could use it in that way, but I can’t envision us applying it to such low-priority targets.”.
That is what I was thinking too!
Notice there are 8 lasers that make up the Death Star’s “super laser”, just like Northrop Grumman’s!
Unfortunately, 0bama has pledged to end Star Wars...
Yeah, but can you mount it on a shark?
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