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Laser Shoots Down Artillery Shell In Flight

Posted by michael on from the hammer's-slammers dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser is a joint project between the US Army and the Israeli Defense Ministry, with much of the work being done by TRW. Tuesday they had a spectacular success when they shot an artillery shell out of the air."

8 of 750 comments (clear)

  1. So what happens... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... when they fire one of these at a disco ball? heh.

    1. Re:So what happens... by Apuleius · · Score: 5, Funny

      In the split second before the disco ball
      melts down to nothing, anyone in the vicinity
      would be made very, very unhappy.

    2. Re:So what happens... by nadador · · Score: 5, Funny

      > In the split second before the disco ball
      > melts down to nothing, anyone in the vicinity
      > would be made very, very unhappy.

      Aren't people in the vicinity of disco balls very unhappy all the time? That and people in the general vicinity of Abba tribute bands. They're unhappy, too.

      --

      Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, its too dark to read.
  2. Real Genius.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They say in the article that it was developed by the army and TRW, but we all know it was Mitch Taylor and Chris Knight.

  3. Re:Isn't this old news? by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, that was James Bond.

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
  4. Re:What happens if you miss? by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where does the laser go if they miss the shell? Disperse into a cloud? Hit a passing 747?

    Somehow, I doubt a 747 would be flying into a live fire area (Iraqi airliners excepted). Many current artillery shells have high trajectories that go several km in altitude. As a matter of fact, I once worked on a system that had an operator warning "NOTIFY NASA", for when a shell trajectory was computed to go above a certain altitude.

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
  5. Re:Isn't this old news? by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Didn't they have this back in the 60's? correct me if I'm wrong, I was always told this. "

    Well, the technnology was developed recently, but yeah it did exist in the 60's. I think it was called the Alan Parsens Project.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  6. Throw me a frickin' bone, people by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 5, Funny

    All I asked for is that the word "la-ser" be printed with quote marks around it, is that so hard?

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