Lascannon - finally come true??

**hellheaven1987** · February 08, 2010, 05:46 AM

Interesting article.

Behold the Laser Avenger, a cannon that could be used to take down incoming aircraft. Boeing was able to shoot a drone out of the sky with the hummer-mounted laser, even though it’s not particularly high-powered. It cooked the remote-controlled aircraft using a somewhat feeble 1-kilowatt beam.

More recently, the company shot down another UAV using a low-power laser paired with its Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments, or Matrix, system during a test in White Sands, New Mexico.

Northrop Grumman is hard at work on a 100-kilowatt laser weapon, which could do far more damage, but it’s not quite ready for prime time. It’s fully operational, but looks like a refrigerator.

Boeing announced in late December that the Avenger has been used to destroy 50 different improvised explosive devices, during tests at Redstone Aresenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

**Kanaric** · February 08, 2010, 09:02 AM

old news but cool

**CtrlAltDe1337** · February 08, 2010, 12:21 PM

Pretty cool. Maybe by the time we have another big war we will be shooting lasers at the bad guys instead of missiles.

**Helm** · February 08, 2010, 01:26 PM

Lasers will still likely be more useful for guiding ordinance into the target.

**Gordon Freynman** · February 08, 2010, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by Helm

Lasers will still likely be more useful for guiding ordinance into the target.

Combine that with this...

..replace puny high-explosives with a small nuke and you have the ultimate weapon of war!

**Gaidin** · February 09, 2010, 08:02 AM

Eventually we'll have personal shields and then s--t will really start to blow up!

(if you don't get it it means you haven't read Dune)

**Nimthill** · February 14, 2010, 12:17 PM

Not acceptable until we see blasters like those in Star Wars. And Lightsabers.

**hellheaven1987** · February 14, 2010, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by Nimthill

Not acceptable until we see blasters like those in Star Wars. And Lightsabers.

That is not laser but plasma, you know...

**~~Yosemite~~** · February 14, 2010, 04:09 PM

this seems more probable

**hellheaven1987** · February 14, 2010, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Yosemite

this seems more probable

Ya, I need a flashlight for my house... NONO, don't send me to Penal Legion for saying something bad about lasgun!!!!

(arrested by Inquisition and sent to Penal Legion for insulting Imperial technology)

**Gordon Freynman** · February 15, 2010, 01:28 PM

http://www.physorg.com/news185463943.html

Gentlemen, we have finally weaponized lasers in the war against mosquitoes!

This thing is so awesome, it has the potential to kill a hundred mosquitoes a second, and can distinguish mosquitoes from other flying insects, and it's cheap to build too!

**Poach** · February 15, 2010, 03:58 PM

Royal Marines/USMC of 2060?

**Nimthill** · February 17, 2010, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by Poach

Royal Marines/USMC of 2060?

Actually, the space marine in that picture is using a weapong that fires projectiles, namely bullets...

**Gelgoog** · February 14, 2010, 05:52 PM

Lasers at cost effective weapons, but they are not very powerful and their use is limited. Mounting them on destroyers at sea would be useful to interdiction mission. They also have limited roles in missile defense but for the time being that are not very practical.

**Elfdude** · February 22, 2010, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by scheuch13

Lasers at cost effective weapons, but they are not very powerful and their use is limited. Mounting them on destroyers at sea would be useful to interdiction mission. They also have limited roles in missile defense but for the time being that are not very practical.

They're also ridiculously effective. If only the lassing materials and other chemicals involved weren't so damn toxic.