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Many Lasers Become One In Lockheed Martin's 30 kW Laser Weapon
Zothecula writes "In another step forward for laser weapons that brings to mind the Death Star's superlaser, Lockheed Martin has demonstrated a 30-kilowatt fiber laser produced by combining many lasers into a single beam of light. According to the company, this is the highest power laser yet that was still able to maintain beam quality and electrical efficiency, paving the way for a laser weapon system suitable, if not for a Death Star, for a wide range of air, land, and sea military platforms."
Lets keep them in one place, nice and tidy.
I know where I would attach that - to a shark's head! Imagine that - sharks with frickin lasers strapped to their heads, and hookers too! In fact forget the sharks.
Can we get this on that fighter? Seems only fitting...
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
Nobody has figured out how to stop laser beams that have missed their target, have they? Nope, didn't think so. Examine a missed 30kw laser beam and try to let us know if any dispersion effects will happen before a whole lot of collateral damage is done. Here's an easier challenge: show us a real, living unicorn.
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
Does it not seem most unfitting for a state which, though pridening itself in its alleged openness and democratic nature, can only keep itself afloat by a debt-raising mechanism, and by printing money, as well as for a state where a substantial portion of its citizens live in deepest poverty ( not to speak of their virtual illiteracy ) to develop weapons no one ever asked for ?
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
Let me know when they get to the 30 MW mining laser. Then I can go harvesting some asteroids.
Course they would publish all the technical details on the Internet for Lockheed to compare with and claim superiority.
...does it go.... pew! pew!... pew! pew!... pew! pew! pew!
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Seriously? Bullets and other such projectiles are subject to gravity and Newtonian physics. They will find a place and time of energy release or simple rest. Thus, a howitzer will send a shell in a predictable arc based on the well-understood science of ballistics. Thus, shells can be aimed to land on target, short of target, or long of target but only to a certain extent. OTOH, a coherent 30kw beam of light that misses or bypasses its target will continue on its merry way to scorch holes in anything it contacts long its line of fire, with no helpful ballistics to predict what it will or will not hit.
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
What else would they mount on Akula-class submarines?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
I wonder what the bandwidth of the combined beam is? You need a pretty decent amount of power to provide laser data connections to really distant objects in space (e.g. a Jupitor orbiter), so if fibre lasers make this more efficient they could take over from LADEEs LLST diode laser based comm system.
I don't know the physics of it, could someone tell me whether it would be both feasible and helpful to combine various lasers of differing bandwidths into one beam?
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Wake me up when they are shark mountable.
Could you even imagine a Beowulf cluster of those?
"There's something very important I forgot to tell you. Don't cross the laser beams. It would be bad. Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously."
E Pluribus Unum!!!!!!
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
I'm highly dubious as to the real world applications of this system. Every other laser "weapon" has turned out to be highly ineffective, prone to failure & unable to meet any of its design goals. Just look at the ABL (Airborne Laser), they burnt over $5 Billion and were well on their way to burning more until some in the military hierarchy noticed that you would need dozens of them positioned inside even a small enemies airspace to be effective.
> paving the way for a laser weapon system suitable, if not for a Death Star, for a wide range of air, land, and sea military platforms.
Sea military platforms, you say?
Yes, bring out the sharks!
Oh, no ... I can hear it now: "I have a right to carry one of these if I want to!"
Considering that a "gun" is defined in a stereotypical law as something that has a muzzle and fires a projectile, it probably is legal to carry one ... if you can lift the silly thing!
The sporting goods store will announce it to their customers .... as the only gun that cooks its target so you don't have to!
Oh, this one's going to be ugly.
What happens when they take the wall wart away? How are they going to power this stuff in the field? And will that power system be hardened enough for combat while still being transportable?
Can it pop a giant bowl of popcorn in a house from a plane?
Nobody will ever suspect a drag racing millionaire playboy
"Mr. President, we must not allow a mine shaft gap!"
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
If Death Star beam was a laser, it would cut a hole in a planet, not blast it to bits. I figure it was "pure anti-proton" like the planet killer in the original Star Trek series episode, "The Doomday Machine".
Terrific. I'm about to get killed a million miles from nowhere with a gung-ho iguana who tells me to relax.
Gentlemen, phase three. We place a giant "laser" on the moon. Let me demonstrate. ... The laser is powerful enough to destroy every city on the planet at will. We'll turn the moon into what I like to call a "Death Star". ... Since my "Death Star" laser was invented by the noted Cambridge physicist, Dr. Parsons. I thought we'd name it in his honor - the Alan Parsons Project.
I am officially gone from
Does anyone tested how this laser weapon works when it's foggy or rainy?
5 MW / 30 kW = approximately 166 times weaker than what Mitch and Chris made in 1985.
Anybody know if that old dream of powering a vehicle into orbit using ground-based lasers is still alive? And if so, how powerful a laser would be required? That might be a worthwhile spinoff of this R&D..
Mount them on them freakin sharks... I'll be impressed.
e pluribus... burnem?
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
Now as soon as I get all those darn laser pointers I ordered, and then get them to point at the same spot ...
Sweet!
"There is no god but allah" - well, they got it half right.