Boeing Successfully Tested Laser Cannon

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joeman42

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[citation][nom]ubernoobie[/nom]wait, defeated as in melted or blown up?[/citation]
Dried the water after it came out of the car wash.
 

grieve

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Question...
How do you "guide" a laser? Don't you aim it... I'm under the impression a laser would be awfully quick, perhaps the speed of... i dunno, light?

""The beam control system acquired the ground target -- an unoccupied stationary vehicle -- and guided the laser beam to the target, as directed by ATL's battle management system.""
 

jhansonxi

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Looks nice but you need to consider all the other details like power source, weight, heat dissipation, and rate of fire. It's a government-funded project so cost doesn't really matter (the money comes from taxpayers and nobody cares what they think).
 
G

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"Collateral Damage"

That means killing innocent civilians, for those that haven't served in the military. However, since 2001, most of our "collateral damage" was intentional, and/or we should've never been shooting at it in the first place. We could also GTFO of Afghanistan and Iraq right now, for an incredible 100% reduction in collateral damage. US defense contractors caring about collateral damage, laugable at best... Blackwater's bonus structure is probably based on collateral damage.
 

ckthecerealkiller

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Chemical lasers have much more limited use than an electric laser. I like Northrop's offering more. Only weights 15,000 pounds (opposed to 40,000) and is very similar in capabilities.
Funniest part is NG finds the 15,000 pound laser too big.... Yet Boeing gets all high and mighty for putting their, much larger, laser on a plane?
 

Sicundercover

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[citation][nom]grieve[/nom]Question... How do you "guide" a laser? Don't you aim it... I'm under the impression a laser would be awfully quick, perhaps the speed of... i dunno, light?""The beam control system acquired the ground target -- an unoccupied stationary vehicle -- and guided the laser beam to the target, as directed by ATL's battle management system.""[/citation]

Its a continues beam. Hold a flashlight and walk. Now keep the lighted point in the same spot as you walk; this is how the targeting system works. Its not like Star Wars where you have a single pulse but more like burning ants with a magnifying glass and sun light. Actually its exactly like that.

[citation][nom]JasonAkkerman[/nom]Quick, I'm going to need a lot of foil and popcorn.[/citation]

Real Genius - Gotta love that movie.
 

CoolBOBob1

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Question...
How do you "guide" a laser? Don't you aim it... I'm under the impression a laser would be awfully quick, perhaps the speed of... i dunno, light?

""The beam control system acquired the ground target -- an unoccupied stationary vehicle -- and guided the laser beam to the target, as directed by ATL's battle management system.""


If I remember correct it first sends out a targeting laser, then secondary laser to compensate for air distortions, then fires the high energy chemical laser. All of this happens in less than a second, if I remember correctly.
 

Robert17

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Take this in context with the year 2000 kill of a Kalushka missle by a vehicle mounted laser @ 10Kw, and it doesn't take a lot of guessing to understand why the DoD just cancelled the balance of F-22's on order. They have something faster, higher, and unmanned folks.
 

skine

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[citation][nom]JasonAkkerman[/nom]Quick, I'm going to need a lot of foil and popcorn.[/citation]
And William Atherton.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040472/
 

Honis

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When you "aim" you expect to fire and forget. The beam was a sustained beam not a BAAM FIRED beam like you guys are use to seeing in Star Trek so the laser had to be "re-aimed" in real time, more commonly referred to as guiding.

Next weapons platform? FREAKING SHARKS!
 

tektek

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"a weapon that can annihilate the enemy without the collateral damage caused by rockets and bombs"

what if it ... well misses.. will we find holes in mountaines... or crators? or does this even explain the crop fields in the UK? Imagine a building with a hole in..and the gov't announce a 'ooops' .. even worse... terrosits use this? no need to launch rockets.. just sit on the top of your balcony..and target practice? and no evidence left since it 'vaporized'? not good news if you ask me..
 

cryogenic

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Next we need energy shields, you know to counter those lasers, let's see which will be the first company to successfully test those.
 
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