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German Laser Destroys Targets More Than 1Km Away

Posted by samzenpus on from the lazlo-approved dept.

kkleiner writes "A German company has brought us one step closer to the kinds of shootouts only seen in Sci-Fi films. Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall Defense recently tested a 50kW, high-energy laser at their proving ground facility in Switzerland. First, the system sliced through a 15mm- (~0.6 inches) thick steel girder from a kilometer away. Then, from a distance of two kilometers, it shot down a handful of drones as they nose-dived toward the surface at 50 meters per second."

21 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Pop Corn by bkmoore · · Score: 4, Funny

    But can it wreck a college professor's house full of pop corn?

    1. Re:Pop Corn by steelfood · · Score: 4, Funny

      So instead of dropping bombs, the enemy will just drop disco balls. That ought to be fun.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    2. Re:Pop Corn by Hobadee · · Score: 5, Funny

      A 6' high ceiling? Where are you living, the Shire?

      --
      ...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror, and you would not have been informed.
    3. Re:Pop Corn by Sez+Zero · · Score: 3, Funny

      Get that shit away from me. I can't stand it.

      Now I know you what to get for your birthday. When is AC's birthday, anyway? 1/1/1970?

    4. Re:Pop Corn by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1, Funny

      And "Anonymous Coward" is an anagram of "Roy on mad cow anus". Just saying.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    5. Re:Pop Corn by TheInternetGuy · · Score: 3, Funny

      So how well does it make popcorn?

      Sheesh, and you people have the nerve to call yourselves nerds. A quick back of the envelope calculation:

      Laser output: 50kW Average microwave oven: 1kW Duration of popping: 2 m. 30 sec. = 150 sec. Therefore, 1 bag of popcorn every 3 seconds.

      House volume: 2000 sq ft * 6 ft high = 12000 cu ft Volume of a bag of popcorn = 0.25 cu ft Therefore, 144k bags of popcorn would be needed.

      (144k bags * 3 sec per bag) / 3600 secs per hour = 120 hours

      Hope Val Kilmer isn't in a hurry.

      Would that be metric hours?

      --
      If my comment didn't sound as good in your head as it did in mine, then I guess we all know who's to blame
    6. Re:Pop Corn by celle · · Score: 4, Funny

      "It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality', which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to paedophilia."

            You know you could have waited till April 1st and won an award. Posting now is just plain stupid.

    7. Re:Pop Corn by thewils · · Score: 5, Funny

      Grammar Nazis!

      --
      Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
  2. Popcorn? by oneiros27 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So how well does it make popcorn?

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/

    --
    Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
  3. Sharks? by macraig · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why did they test it in a country where there are no sharks?

  4. Oooh shiny!!! by kimgkimg · · Score: 4, Funny

    I predict a mirrored future for our military vehicles...

  5. Germans acquire an advanced weapon! by Kensai7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What can possibly go wrong...?! :p

    --
    "Sum Ergo Cogito"
    1. Re:Germans acquire an advanced weapon! by ClayDowling · · Score: 3, Funny

      Once all the Germans were warlike and mean,
      But that couldn't happen again.
      We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen,
      And they've hardly bothered us since then.

      Tom Lehrer, Mlf Lullaby

      --
      Easy Online Role Playing Campaign Management
    2. Re:Germans acquire an advanced weapon! by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Funny

      Most of us Polacks who are not elderly or nationalist are already in Ireland, UK, or, well, Germany, so you can take the old piece of dirt if you want.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  6. Re:wake me up.. by aliquis · · Score: 3, Funny

    It has already been done.
    http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/wicked-lasers-shark/

  7. American translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    50 m/sec is 894.776 furlongs/sec for y'all in the US. :)

    1. Re:American translation by GoogleShill · · Score: 5, Funny

      The preferred unit is furlongs/fortnight you insensitive clod!

  8. Re:Two words by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually, after you say "two words", you've already exhausted your word quota.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  9. German Laser Destroys Targets More Than 1Km Away.. by fotoguzzi · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...from where it was aimed.

    --
    Their they're doing there hair.
  10. Re:Oblig: Pew! Pew! Pew! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Brought to you by the Pew Pew Pew Research Center.

  11. Re:it had to be said by _4rp4n3t · · Score: 5, Funny

    I assume you mean 'pew-pew', unless you are, for some reason, particularly relieved at the successful testing of this laser...