Free Republic

The US Navy Is Ready To Deploy A Futuristic Laser Weapon That's Been Likened To 'Star Wars' David Sharp, Associated PressFebuary 16,2014 BATH, Maine (AP) — Some of the Navy's futuristic weapons sound like something out of "Star Wars," with lasers designed to shoot down aerial drones and electric guns that fire projectiles at hypersonic speeds. That future is now. The Navy plans to deploy its first laser on a ship later this year, and it intends to test an electromagnetic rail gun prototype aboard a vessel within two years. For the Navy, it's not so much about the whiz-bang...

So who bought the world’s first fully operational fusion reactor? Was it a straw buyer arranged by inventor Andrea Rossi as part of a larger fraud to entice gullible investors or buyers? While we have no proof yet, several interesting pieces of evidence have come to light. The first line of evidence came after the October 28 test when Rossi released an Excel spreadsheet of test data. The properties section embedded in the file identified it as coming from a computer owned by “Manutencoop Facility Management.” This is a large (16,000 employee) Italian company with a range of services including...

GOOSE CREEK -- A former military defense contractor faked a police badge so he could walk into an office with a gun and demand to know why he was fired last week, according to a Navy investigator who sent him to jail. Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Troy Williams spelled out the story in an Aug. 13 affidavit filed in U.S. District Court. Harry Edgar Lewis III of Ladson was a contractor for the ICS Corporation working at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center until he was fired.

Everyone has heard the horror stories—from rescue units frantically trying to communicate during the terrifying first hours after the Twin Towers were struck, to communications crises during the most recent war. The cause? Emergency radios that could not find a clear channel amidst the noise of all the other signals, and systems that are not compatible. The Office of Naval Research has moved the Navy—and all the services—a big step closer to needing only one radio to talk to the many already in service with the development of an all-digital radio receiver. The inherent accuracy and very high processing speed...