Well, we’re getting closer to having laser weaponry. Northrop Grumman announced recently that they were able to get a laser to fire at 105.5 kilowatts for a sustained amount of time, suggesting that a vehicle mounted or stationary weapon can’t be far behind.
Interestingly, this level of power was achieved by using a scalable system, combing multiple lasers into one high powered beam. To put the power level into perspective, most industrial lasers use a maximum 1.5 kilowatt beam to cut metal with. This suggests that a weapons grade 105.5kw beam would potentially have the power to destroy aircraft and vehicles, not to mention what it could do to a human body.
“Sustained” could mean anything really, given that they’ve never done it. Anything from .1ms to 1ms could be “sustained.”
“The seven-chain JHPSSL laser demonstrator ran for more than five minutes, achieved electro-optical efficiency of 19.3 percent, reaching full power in less than 0.6 seconds, all with beam quality of better than 3.0. ”
Read the article.
line the borders of the US with ground-based installations ASAP. I want one on the hill behind my house. Power with wind, solar etc, to allow for these systems to power the grid when not in use and to keep them up and functional when needed.
this laser blows my mind like a male hooker.
no more UFO’s!
what will this do to my body? wait, is this not the website where i can order vibrators?
yay for the lasers! now i know i can safely star-gaze with out being shot by women eating aliens!
What about Space defenses? Possibly a moon base? The last 35 years have been a real disappointment. Where are the hover cars? The space flight, Transporters, space exploration (not just orbit and back)
Nothing like greed to hold back a civilization.
Sigh.