U.S Navy Breaks World Record With Futuristic Free Electron Laser

[Jaketh]

Seemed like the best sub forum to put this in

The Navy just set a new world record, a test blast from a new type of laser that can shoot cruise missiles from the sky in seconds with a deadly accuracy that simply doesn't exist in the military’s vast arsenal today.
And that new record moved them one step closer to proving the "holy grail" of laser guns is real.

Article

By 2020 the U.S.N will have militarized megawatt lasers that can be used for many different things. it seems like the 21st centuary is the future

[Ulyaoth]

Well finally. It's freaking 2011 already and we don't have flying cars, helper robots, androids, cloning, or any of that stuff promised to us yet. Get to work you lazy prick scientists.

[Turtle Hammer]

Well finally. It's freaking 2011 already and we don't have flying cars, helper robots, androids, cloning, or any of that stuff promised to us yet. Get to work you lazy prick scientists.

Helper robots and cloning are more trouble than they are worth, I direct you to Battlestar Galactica, Terminator and Star Wars sir.

Flying cars though, I'd love a flying 60's VW van.

[Incontinenta Buttox]

Helper robots and cloning are more trouble than they are worth, I direct you to Battlestar Galactica, Terminator and Star Wars sir.

Flying cars though, I'd love a flying 60's VW van.

Remember "Tomorrows World" on the BBC? They were full of shite.

I love your avatar TH. The Roses are the nuts.

[Markas]

Bet you a tenner SPECTRE will have stolen it by the end of the week.

[Lord Rahl]

Don't you just love science?!

[Jaketh]

Soon enough you will see the US marines armed with blasters but im glad the US military is investing its insane budget on awesome tech like lasers

[removeduser_4536284751384]

So essentially a more effective replacement of the Phalanx CIWS?

I can't imagine it will be any more accurate, but a continous beam is more effective than a stream of bullets.

[LSJ]

It's taken a lot longer than I thought it would. Lasers designed to destroy missiles have been around for decades. It's a small step forward having one that is effective and can be mounted on a ship. Lasers are good defensive weapons against missiles and aircraft, but we won't see them mounted on tanks or in the hands of soldiers. For ground forces, conventional munitions will continue to be the choice weapon.

[Old_Scratch]

It's not cool unless it makes sounds like the Star Wars turbo lasers, like Pew! Pew!

[Floris V van Holland]

So essentially a more effective replacement of the Phalanx CIWS?

I can't imagine it will be any more accurate, but a continous beam is more effective than a stream of bullets.

much longer range.

artillery umbrella : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_High_Energy_Laser

navy : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfxu4p9Q3T4

NICE

still waiting on those railguns like in stargate though. capable of destroying battleships with 100 gram balls of metal at 30.000 km/h. the funny bit in transformers 2. and they will work in rain too which i very much doubt in the laser game.
.

[Mr. Shaboobies]

much longer range.

artillery umbrella : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_High_Energy_Laser

navy : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfxu4p9Q3T4

NICE

still waiting on those railguns like in stargate though. capable of destroying battleships with 100 gram balls of metal at 30.000 km/h. the funny bit in transformers 2. and they will work in rain too which i very much doubt in the laser game.
.

I watched an episode of "Future Weapons" and they had a rail gun prototype that was pretty wicked! It was only a few dozen meters long, or however you'd measure them..., but they were saying that if they developed them to fit on large ships then they could fire on targets like 500 miles away. Pretty wicked stuff, even though that is probably very far in the future. But it is still cool to think about.

Im wondering what would happen if the laser some how got reflected back to earth and hit a city, what would happen to the people and the buildings?

All this is really cool stuff nonetheless

[Border Patrol]

Where are my lightsabres?!

[MathiasOfAthens]

And the most important question here has not been addressed. What about the Ozone layer. Wont these lasers go on forever and eventually puncture a hole in the Ozone layer so the full strength of the Sun can be leveled on our planet. Sounds like something from a Bond movie except here its the US trying to puncture a hole over Iran so the Iranians can burn to death under the sun...

[Ulyaoth]

You have any basis for that?

[6644kp]

Can one see the laser beam with the naked eye or is it invisible?

[Gordon Freynman]

Can one see the laser beam with the naked eye or is it invisible?

No. For you to see it, it would need something for the light to reflect off of, and with this beast the only thing you want the laser to reflect off of is the target. I haven't found any info on what wavelengths it can operate at but I imagine it runs well above that of the visible spectrum anyways.

[Douchebag]

screw lasers. I WANT POWER ARMOR.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[MathiasOfAthens]

screw lasers. I WANT POWER ARMOR.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Gay the helmet is too heavy to rotate and the armor and the weapon would be too heavy to lift.

[Jaketh]

Gay the helmet is too heavy to rotate and the armor and the weapon would be too heavy to lift.

this has none of those weaknesses

http://nunetherlands.files.wordpress.../nanosuit1.jpg