Posted on 01/21/2011 6:27:58 AM PST by Lazamataz
The Navy has passed a major milestone in its quest to build an incredibly powerful new anti-aircraft gun.
Scientists with the Navy's Office of Naval Research have demonstrated a prototype system capable of producing from thin air the electrons needed to generate ultrapowerful, "megawatt-class" laser beams for the agency's next-generation system.
(snip)
Navy ships have become vulnerable in modern times to supersonic missiles because of their slower defense systems, the agency worries. "The FEL is expected to provide future U.S. Naval forces with a near-instantaneous laser ship defense in any maritime environment throughout the world,” Saulter said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Are you referring to that ray gun they have glued on the nose of a 747.
I hope those fly boys get crakin on that thing cause we gonna need it when HU decides to re-take Taiwan.
Nobody said anything about free energy. ‘Free’ in terms of there are free electrons that form the beam, not light photons..............
According to the article this is a FEL laser. The laser onboard the Air Force 747 is a chemical laser which is a logistics nightmare. This looks to be vastly superior to the chemical laser and even the solid state laser.
Who?
read
Wait 'til the State of the Union speech. I think Obama promised to cure cancer in his first SOTU, so he may promise free energy in the upcoming one.
Of course, the Navy still wants its laser to target and destroy incoming threats, and therein lies the challenge. The lower power threshold for a weaponized laser of this nature is more or less 100 kilowatts; the FEL at the DOE lab where the Navy has been sponsoring research currently runs at about 14 kilowatts. Boeing’s job is to make up the difference so the Navy’s FEL can perform tasks that require 50 watts, 100-plus kilowatts, and everything in between.
Sounds like it's a problem of scaling it up.
"Why sir, how can you doubt me? As sure as the sun rises.... it's FREE! In fact, dear sir, DOES ANYONE CHARGE YOU MONEY FOR THE SUN? NO! NO, I say! The sunlight you have on your dapper suit, RIGHT NOW, is FREE! That, sir, is free energy and may God strike me dead right now if I lie."
Obama will go golfing...
This could get messy.
After working in the HEL field for more than 30 years, I think fiber lasers offer the best hope for every type of mission except the largest systems such as would be required to defend ship convoys from ballistic missiles.
That seems to have been the problem in directed energy weapons all along.
Sorry to bust your bubble, but the USAF has been working on chemical lasers. Not FELs. Big difference. The simplest difference is the logistics works for the FEL.
/johnny (former zoomie, disappointed that the USAF fell so far behind the USN)
Miniaturization has never been a problem, all packages shrink in time. HOWEVER: The power requirements might put it out of the realm of being fighter-borne. This article references putting them on Naval vessels by 2018, and that's using the shipboard power plant.
What does this have to do with women? /s
My favorite subject.
Ergo, more available women.
Q.E.D.
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