Plasmas for Weapons and Hypersonic Aircraft

kalamazoo904 writes "This free article at Jane's Defence Weekly reports that Boeing's Phantom Works is seriously considering a plasma gun for fighter planes. The basic idea appears to be using the air plasma that builds up above Mach 1 on a plane's forward surfaces as the power source. I can't tell whether the actual plasma 'bullets' are formed from the air plasma, or are metal bullets melted and accelerated by the air plasma. The aspect of this story that I find scary is that the plasma gun is apparently already under classified development."