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The U.S. Navy has a raygun -- and it's a big one

Brent

Brent

Admiral
Admiral
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/06/03/navy-shoots-aircraft-really-big-raygun/#content

According to The Register, "it represents the first Detect-Thru-Engage laser shoot-down of a threat representative target in an over-the-water, combat representative scenario." LaWS is fitted to the Navy's "R2-D2" robotic gun turret and looks every bit like what you'd expect a raygun to look like.

In normal operations, R2-D2 would support the Navy's Phalanx 20mm cannon, which automatically locks onto incoming missiles and blasts them out of the sky. Unfortunately for anyone in the impact zone, that usually results in a shower of shrapnel or the 20mm shell itself if it fails to explode.

The LaWS system simply vaporizes the target.
Click to expand...

One word, Awesome
 
I wonder how long it will be before they'll fit this to a drone and use it as an assassination tool. If you can vaporize your enemy completely there's really virtually nothing you can use to ID the person
 
It's a good thing Cheney's not still anywhere near the White House, or you just know that he would put this on the moon and call it the Death Star. :lol:
 
I thought these lasers could only be mounted on Boeing 747's because of the size required? and I thought it could only just take out a missile? now we've got something tiny that can take out a plane?:confused:

Seems like a huge leap to me.
 
Now you know why the military burns up so much money.. such research doesn't come cheap i guess.

However that thing needs a major visual redesign.. it's just so. technical looking.

Get some ideas from Hollywood how to bling up this thing!
 
It looks that way because it was designed for a laboratory environment. Once you get it ready to be deployed, which includes serviceability, resistant to the elements, etc., it's going to look a lot different.
 
CuttingEdge100 said:
I wonder how long it will be before they'll fit this to a drone and use it as an assassination tool. If you can vaporize your enemy completely there's really virtually nothing you can use to ID the person
Click to expand...

Missiles vaporize people completely too, and we already use those.
 
You need to stop having your view of science distorted by Hollywood.

Any beam weapon powerful enough to vaporize a target would have a devastating effect on the surrounding environment as well, unless the target was in midair or silhouetted on the top of a ridge or something.
 
Very cool.. I'm willing to bet as defensive tech gets better and better... it will bring back deck mounted guns as a primary weapon again.

Can we say.. return of the battleship?
 
Tombfyre said:
Very cool.. I'm willing to bet as defensive tech gets better and better... it will bring back deck mounted guns as a primary weapon again.

Can we say.. return of the battleship?
Click to expand...

Doubt it because you still are not able to shoot around the horizon as it's a direct fire weapon.

Drones with such guns though.. quite a possibility.
 
Lindley said:
You need to stop having your view of science distorted by Hollywood.

Any beam weapon powerful enough to vaporize a target would have a devastating effect on the surrounding environment as well, unless the target was in midair or silhouetted on the top of a ridge or something.
Click to expand...

Yea, all that popcorn would be a definite sign.;)
 
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