Navy Breaks World Record With Futuristic Free-Electron Laser.

The Navy just set a new world record, a test blast from a new type of laser that can shoot cruise missiles from the sky in seconds with a deadly accuracy that simply doesn't exist in the military’s vast arsenal today. And that new record moved them one step closer to proving the "holy grail" of laser guns is real. To create incredible power requires incredible energy. After all, the more power one puts into a laser accelerator, the more powerful and precise the light beam that comes out on the other end. During a private tour of the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, VA., on Friday, FoxNews.com saw scientists blast unprecedented levels of power into a prototype accelerator, producing a supercharged electron beam that can burn through 20 feet of steel per second. Read more: www.foxnews.com...

www.foxnews.com...

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


now we just need the handheld version...

and citizens screaming for their freedom to own one. lol

Burns through 20 feet of steel per second!

That's an impressive laser. Getting in to science-fiction now.

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by mydarkpassenger

 

now we just need the handheld version...

and citizens screaming for their freedom to own one. lol

You already can get them, although this wont wont burn through that much. Yet.

www.youtube.com...


Deebo

Originally posted by mydarkpassenger
Burns through 20 feet of steel per second!

Good God, they better be careful where they aim that thing!

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


They could use this to demolish old sky scrapers instead of using conventional explosives.

Or to vaporize harmful radioactive waste?

Maybe even destroy an asteroid or comet?

Lots of other uses besides a weapon methinks.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


The 20 feet of steel/sec may be a misinterpretation by Foxnews.

Originally posted by harrytuttle

Originally posted by mydarkpassenger
Burns through 20 feet of steel per second!

Good God, they better be careful where they aim that thing!

edit on 21-2-2011 by harrytuttle because: url

Lets get a burger

In there ?!

On a side note, maybe they could put this on one of their larger subs to help take out various naval targets. Much quiter than torpedoes and only needs a few seconds to be effective. Now, I wonder if it can even be fired underwater in the first place.

New Idea

Maybe make deployable drones that can attach themselves to the sides of target vessels and slowly melt their way through the targets bulk heads?

reply to post by pteridine


Or an understatement by the US Navy.

Military capabilities by the US Military are often understated.

I applaud the scientific and engineering advance.
But i can't believe the first use they think of is just another moronic tool to express our stupidity and fear blowing # into pieces...

reply to post by Wertdagf


Military applications aside, I am curious about the potential construction / mining applications for this. Creating a tunnel under the alps in a few months instead of decades.

IMO, every development like this helps make everyone more secure.

Think about it. The only way to remove (ballistic and other types of) missiles as a threat is to make them obsolete.

well yes it might be able to burn tho 20 feet or steel in a second but what diameter is the beam. unless it has very large diameter beam or on an armature to enable it to make cuts like giant lightsaber it won't do a lot of damage to something the size of say a aircraft carrier unless it hit a fuel or munition storage area., but against a missile moving thousands of miles an hour then a pinprick hole in fuselage would be catastrophic

well yes it might be able to burn tho 20 feet or steel in a second but what diameter is the beam. unless it has very large diameter beam or on an armature to enable it to make cuts like giant lightsaber it won't do a lot of damage to something the size of say a aircraft carrier unless it hit a fuel or munition storage area., but against a missile moving thousands of miles an hour then a pinprick hole in fuselage would be catastrophic

20-feet of steel per second? Wow! That seems like a bit of overkill if it's intended use is to shoot down cruise missiles. I wonder what the other untold military applications will be?

If they are showing the world now, this thing is already in use. Likely in space since the recent launches of military satelites.

Originally posted by mydarkpassenger
Burns through 20 feet of steel per second!

That's an impressive laser. Getting in to science-fiction now.

Yeah no kidding, that's comparable to M.D.C./ Mega Damage Capacity, in the RIFTs Palladium RPG system.
I would says that today's current technology is slightly past Ninjas & Superspie's and pre-Rift in technology level.

Of course, that is going by a fictional standard, in the real world the military is beyond 40 years in civilian tech, and is some where closer to 60+ years in advance to what people are seeing today as cutting edge.

reply to post by ADVISOR


Very true I think.

I'd like to know more though - of course. Like how much does the power supply weigh - how portable is it - and how fast can this laser be cycled for another shot?

If it can cut through twenty feet of steel a second, could the beam be split to target and penetrate 20 different ICBMs to a depth of 1 foot?

The hardest part of a nuclear weapon (warhead & guidance) is making the damned thing go off properly to release the full potential energy of the payload on the desired target.

A one second "rake" of a laser penetrating 1 foot into the missile body should kill any nuclear missile.

If the beam hits the warhead, it's toast, non-functional, at worst an EPA "superfund" site. The tolerances are too finely engineered - the least thing going wrong will make it just a lump of radioactive junk.

If it hits the guidance package or the engines controlled by the guidance, the missile is toast again - the weapon will disarm itself if it veers off the programmed course so as not to inadvertently nuke an objective or an allie, and it will self destruct to protect the technology secrets of the nation that built it.

After all, you don't want an enemy you just fired a nuke at to have something left to analyze if it fails.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


From my understanding, the FEL is basically a hopped up cyclotron, I dont think there is a cycle time, its more of a case of opening the valve to let the electrons out, once its running.
It will likley be powered by Bussard polywell fusion reactor.
The wiki link to the polywell

Polywell fusion reactor