Re: Boeing completes successful test air-to-ground laser turret,enemies are teh doome

**ScratchMonkey** · 08-20-2008, 08:49 AM

Going by the Real Genius image, this is going to be really handy in destroying model railroad towns. Gomez Addams will certainly have one on order!

**zidane** · 08-20-2008, 12:43 PM

its like an ion cannon in the game generals

**Bamboo** · 08-24-2008, 08:16 PM

For an update:
Star Wars Laser Weapon Battles Arrive in 2016—at the Earliest

**Bamboo** · 09-03-2008, 12:41 AM

And still more updates:

Northrop Grumman Death Star Lasers Are Weapons-Grade, Could Be Out in 2008

**Bamboo** · 11-15-2008, 12:36 PM

Kind of along the lines of the air laser platform, the was just posted this morning:

Firestrike Is the World's First Solid-State Battlefield Laser

EDIT: and yes, I know that is not a real picture, but still funny.......

**DrakenViator** · 11-15-2008, 03:35 PM

Just a little scary...

As for 'practical' application we will have to wait and see.

~ Draken

**Wyzcrak** · 11-15-2008, 04:41 PM

I saw the thread title and thought: "Awesome. I'll drop in on the thread and make a Real Genius reference. I'll be so cool and unique."

It was gonna be great, too -- the one about taking a step backward, and then forward, and then backward.. and then something about the cha-cha. It's timeless, really.

**peardog** · 11-16-2008, 07:39 AM

You wonder with Obama's Promise to cut future military program spending (which I assume this is an example of ) where these items will end up? Weather the US's military (who probably bank rolled the research anyways) will end up with it or maybe a Gas rich Russia..? I would think the applications as a Missile Shield would be the most interesting application...

**ScratchMonkey** · 11-17-2008, 01:16 PM

What's not shown in Bamboo's concept photo is the long train of trailers behind the tank carrying generators to power the laser, and more trailers full of coal to power the generators.

**Spulat** · 11-17-2008, 02:15 PM

Yet the question still remains...

When, if ever, will we be able to fricken mount them on fricken sharks.

**Anospa** · 11-17-2008, 02:23 PM

Hmm, couple this with the new leap ahead in solar cell technology we were talking about a few months ago.... That would be simply amazing.

Its a scary weapon, but, think of the deterrent side of it. A missile shield is theoretically possible now, as well as it also being a "big stick."

**Spulat** · 11-17-2008, 03:13 PM

It may even bring Titan shields down!

**Acreo Aeneas** · 11-17-2008, 04:59 PM

Ah, finally the age of laser weaponry.

Now to get my stormtrooper battle armor and my repeating blaster.

*pew pew*

**Tonk** · 11-17-2008, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Spulat

When, if ever, will we be able to fricken mount them on fricken sharks.

lol

**Uranium - 235** · 11-18-2008, 08:33 PM

You know, I just thought of something. In the not-too distant future... air combat may be completely obsolete.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...w/4231116.html

A little old, but this is the important part: "Late last month, Boeing conducted a series of tests at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama with a 1-kw laser mounted on the back of a converted anti-aircraft Humvee. Shooting an invisible beam just a few centimeters in diameter and 20 times hotter than an electric stovetop, the laser burned a hole through the casing of artillery and mortar rounds, detonating them more or less instantly."

What else tends to have thin skin and full of all kinds of flammable things? Aircraft. And our aircraft already posses these lasers, they're just low-powered. But did you know that the LANTIRN targeting pod is already MORE than capable of firing a laser directly at an airborne target, even in ACM / 'dogfight' scenarios (but the details of this stuff tends to get classified)?

So let's say twenty years down the line, this technology has miniaturized enough to be mounted on a bomber, and the WSO can lock up airborne threats, the laser fires its beam, burns a hole through just about any single part of the enemy aircraft (wings it'll detonate fuel, anywhere else it'll ignite fuel, and/or destroy wiring and avionics.).

Fricken lasers.

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