Northrop: battlefield rayguns to demo this year

[Mugu]

US weaponry goliath Northrop Grumman says it has achieved the "first major building block" necessary for manufacture of a 100 kilowatt solid-state laser - that is, a viable battlefield raygun.

The company said yesterday that its Joint High-Powered Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) programme has "exceeded all target requirements of its second major demonstration milestone". This was the trial of a "laser chain" with 15 kilowatt power. Northrop intends to combine eight such units to produce a single laser beam of more than 100 kilowatts - which is generally considered the level at which energy beams would become useful combat weapons.

"Our team has developed a compact modular laser with excellent beam quality, which can be used alone or coherently combined with additional laser chains to reach 100kW and beyond," said Northrop raygun exec Jay Marmo.

His colleague Dan Wildt added: "With the successful demonstration of a complete laser chain - the building block of the fully integrated solid state laser - the hardest part is over."

Read complete article at:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/12/northrop_solid_state_laser_100kw_2008/

[AnnieBW]

1. Set phasers on stun!

n/t

[Mugu]

2. I have a feeling that these lasers don't have a stun setting. n/t

[soothsayer]

3. Well, they already use them to blow up landmines and other unexploded ordnance

(the Zeus, made by SPARTA). Some folks wonder if these haven't already been used in warfare as weaponry, citing really odd burns on some victims.

[Mugu]

4. Some lasers can be used to blind all unprotected troops on the battlefield.

[napoleon_in_rags]

5. so one of them burns the energy to power ten cars or warm ten homes.

another case of warped priorities.

[Indenturedebtor]

7. No freakin kidding

If we put half the energy into killing people as we do into helping people... what a world that would be.

Imagine.

[daleo]

6. Whoopee

A new way to kill foreigners, most of whom will be innocent of any wrongdoing.

[knight_of_the_star]

8. And probably requires a truck to haul it around

I somehow fail to see how practical it would be to have a weapon that is likely to need support mechanisms that are larger than the operator.