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Boeing making truck-mounted laser for US Army
If you ever had any doubts, let me remind you of something very, very important: don't mess with the high-tech branches of the U.S. Army. They've just hired Boeing to develop some truck-mounted laser cannons to explode and burn basically anything within sight.
It's all part of the Army's High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) project, and they plan to slap a big old laser cannon on a 20-ton vehicle that'll be able to take out incoming shells, missiles, and bombs before they have a chance to hit their targets. With the initial research budget of $7 million possibly getting upped to $50 million, this isn't a cheap project. But hey, it's the Army. They have lots of money to spend on stuff like this, which is why you really should stay on their good side.
Via New Launches
By retireddonna at 12:50 PM ON 08/02/07
What's a URL? I'm retired as my name shows.
Now for my comment. I hope they send some of these new fangled weapons to our boys and girls on the war front to test out. If they arn't going to reinstate the draft to make it more fair for the enlisted they need to give them some of the newest things to protect them selves and to take donw the enemy!
By hydrohead at 12:58 PM ON 08/03/07
What the heck does the draft have to do with new high tech weaponry, and just how does a draft make anything fare?
Anyway, I won't believe it until I actually see it implemented on the battle field. It just seems to me that about every 5 to 10 years, a story comes out promising some kind of sci-fi like laser weapon that never materializes.
By geo1272 at 4:24 PM ON 08/04/07
Isn't there supposed to be a gun that has been made which shoots an aluminum shell at near the speed of light? It is called a "Rail-Gun"
Now if this is so, then why are they trying to create a laser cannon when they could develop a way of making the rail gun, which is supposed to be so big that the only thing that it can be mounted to is the front of a battleship, smaller so that it can be mounted on a truck or even handled by a soldier.
I wonder what else they will come up with next, a nice lovely disruptor beam maybe....... hmmmmm.
I just did some research on the rail gun, and I have discovered it is real, here is the link at wikipedia
By Thrythlind at 6:24 PM ON 08/04/07
Retired Donna, a URL is a website address.
As for lasers and rail guns.
The technology has existed for a long time. If anybody has seen Congo and how the characters used a laser to cut through the monster apes, that laser, I've been told, is a weak version of what we can do.
The problem with lasers is that they are not very hardy weapons. They break easy, simple dust is bad for them. As such, they are mostly used for surgery, drilling, carving or communication purposes, which are usually done in conditions that can be a lot more controlled than combat. A laser weapon has not been practical. No one wants a weapon that will break down ten minutes into a fight.
What this article implies is that they've found ways to get around that problem.
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Thrythlind:
Retired Donna, a URL is a website address. As for lasers and rail guns. The technology has existed for a long t...More »