Posted on 07/27/2011 9:26:34 AM PDT by James C. Bennett
Automated, computer-targeting machine guns are okay in a pinch, but sometimes putting 180 25mm slugs down range every minute just isn't enough. Sometimes you need a little more energy, and that's when you strap a laser on the thing. Boeing and BAE are partnering up to take the existing Mk 38 Mod 2 Machine Gun System, which offers a 25mm M242 barrel, and pair it with Boeing's directed energy system. The resulting beautiful machine is called the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System, offering the ability to fling both hot metal and even hotter photons against whatever targets would dare come in range. This integration is said to allow for these upgraded turrets to be easily installed and controlled on our naval vessels, vessels that are, for now, still stuck on the water. Apparently we're still a few years away from the Wave Motion Engine and FTL battleship travel.
http://gizmodo.com/5824804/navy-next-wonder-weapon-is-a-dual-laser-kinetic-machine-gun
Boeing and BAE are building a weapon that combines a traditional M242 autocannon—which fires 175 rounds per minute with a range of 2.5 kilometers—with a high energy laser. They call it the Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System.
Similar to the successul Boeing's Laser Avenger—which is being developed for the US Army—the MK 38 Mod 2 combines a powerful Naval 25-mm machine gun with a solid state high-energy laser weapon module.
The laser will be able to target and destroy surface and air targets like small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles. The Navy is excited about it because they can integrate it in current ships with little work.
[Boeing]
Next, our soldiers will have laser beam on their “frikkin’ heads.”
And the problem with that is...?
Whether you’re ventilated, blown into red mist, or turned crispy-fried by a beam weapon, as long as the ENEMIES of the US are on the receiving end, I’m okay with that.
Me too. AWESOME!!! (And pass some marshmallows!!)
Nothin` new- I saw this in 10 cent Marvel comic books in the 1940`s and 50`s.
Wasn’t it Buck Rogers that had a Ray Gun ... long ago?
Latest tool for your troll-zotting pleasure.
Are they ill-tempered?
No, that would be the Sea Bass.
So, when is the next meeting of your chapter of the Luddite Society?
Interesting computer aiming problem.
Lead needed for conventional munitions, none for laser.
It was a great scene but for For some reason this "Tunnel scene" was cut from subsequent releases.
Video: "Aliens" Directors Cut "The Tunnel"
I want one.
The most important question is, will it fit the bed of my Dodge Dually!
“Shoot what’s available, as long as it’s available, until something else becomes available.”
“The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always win and cheat if necessary.”
I might be old but I ain`t senile yet.
`While living in a cabin in the woods of rural Illinois (whoops, wrong history). At any rate, an already established pulp-magazine publisher of the time, Martin Goodman, founded Marvel Comics in 1939. Originally it was grouped together with other subsidiary companies under the umbrella name of Timely Comics. The first publication came out in October of 1939 (see image above) and was dubbed Marvel Comics #1.`
http://www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/marvel-comics.html
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