Posted on 04/08/2011 3:05:47 PM PDT by Nachum
One if by land lasers if by sea.
A futuristic laser mounted on a speeding cruiser successfully blasted a bobbing, weaving boat from the waters of the Pacific Ocean -- the first test at sea of such a gun and a fresh milestone in the Navy's quest to reoutfit the fleet with a host of laser weapons, the Navy announced Friday.
"We were able to have a destructive effect on a high-speed cruising target," chief of Naval research Rear Adm. Nevin Carr told FoxNews.com.
The test occurred Wednesday near San Nicholas Island, off the coast of Central California in the Pacific Ocean test range, from a laser gun mounted onto the deck of the Navys self-defense test ship, former USS Paul Foster.
In a video of the event, the small boat can be seen catching fire and ultimately bursting into flames, a conflagration caused by the navy's distant gun. Some details of the event were classified, including the exact range of the shot, but Carr could provide some information: "We're talking miles, not yards," Carr said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That’s more like it. Poof!
Sorry, but a careful reading of scientific and military literature clued in open source intelligence a while back. Note that this doesn’t give any details about how the thing really works.
“To begin to address a cruise missile threat, we’d need to get up to hundreds of kilowatts,” Carr said.
The Navy is working on just such a gun of course.
Called the FEL — for free-electron laser, which doesn’t use a gain medium and is therefore more versatile — it was tested in February consuming a blistering 500 kilovolts of energy, producing a supercharged electron beam that can burn through 20 feet of steel per second.”
Wow.
All of the information you complain about being released is already in the public federal budget and notices of contract awards, etc.
Completely black programs are difficult to manage and inflate costs as much as 20%.
Rest assured there are Naval black programs, however.
No doubt the peasants continued to cherish linen and cotton clothing anyway.
What you are thinking of are the Japanese silk kingdoms. They raised the worms and the berries and exported the boles. As a result the Japanese did not develop an indigenous silk industry until the arrival of Buddhism about 560 AD.
Rest assured the “black programs” are about things that would raise the hair on the back of your neck and clip it off evenly!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.