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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."

11 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 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.

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

      Grammar Nazis!

      --
      Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
  2. Sharks? by macraig · · Score: 4, Funny

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

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

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

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

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

    --
    "Sum Ergo Cogito"
  5. 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
  6. Re:American translation by GoogleShill · · Score: 5, Funny

    The preferred unit is furlongs/fortnight you insensitive clod!

  7. 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...