"Pentagon’s Lightning Gun Sold for Scraps on eBay"

I got a good laugh out of this article from WIRED.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the Pentagon sank tens of millions of dollars into remote-controlled lightning guns that it hoped would fry insurgent bombs before they killed any more troops. Now, disassembled parts from the one-time wonder-weapons are being sold on eBay. At least one buyer snatched up the gear, hoping to use it in his latest art project for Burning Man.

Lightning Gun

A guy picked up the parts for the bomb disposing lightning machine on e-bay without knowing it. He found that there was absolutely no protection on the device and it was basically made out of a linksys router and some controllers strung together and sold to our government for millions. Only two were ever sent over to Iraq, one flipped over and broke while the other jammed up and continued to shoot lightning bolts even after it was told to stop. It's a funny story and I hope you guys enjoy it

Damn I need to apply for a Gov'mnt grant for wasteful Crap!!!

Funny story indeed S&F for the laugh!!

Wow thanks for the link to the Joint Service Power Expo manual.

I just read through it, extremely informative.

Check out the diagrams showing Pre-OIF Rifle Company Radio loadouts compared to the OEF Era Rifle Company Radio loadout.

Also the diagrams showing current military strategy (Capturing a forward base before moving on to the objective) is becoming quickly obsolete. The second diagram shows the future strategy, which bypasses the forward base requirement and skips it and moves straight to the objective mission.

This is all very interesting. Thanks for the link, I appreciate it.

reply to post by BrianC


I read that some woman is being prosecuted for having a pair of truck nuts on her rear bumper....but it's ok for the Marines to have them hangin' off the front of their counter IED trucks?

Sorry, I love my fellow brothers in arms, but that pic was hilarious.

That was a good read. What concerns me is the shape of this lightning gun!

I want one of those, but only so i can shock all the blasted school mums that block our road when the kids get dropped off and picked up from school. They all have one child each and drive 7 seater cars UGH!!!



Never heard of that weapon before, good find.

reply to post by Evil3unnie


That one hung gun.

Maybe sell to China?

Originally posted by Evil3unnie
That was a good read. What concerns me is the shape of this lightning gun!

edit on 4-8-2011 by Evil3unnie because: (no reason given)

edit on 4-8-2011 by Evil3unnie because: (no reason given)

haha, I bet it would have been a major morale crusher if the insurgents managed to bust their balls of steel

These people are wacko.
Tesla told everyone how to explode devices from a distance.
The government advisers in his time steered everyone away,
except for the power hungry Germans. Now no one does
it the Tesla way so stop heading in the wrong direction.
A beam of atomic level force vibrations will explode from a distance.

Gad and for a capacitive globe Tesla used wood covered in tin foil.
Stick on a foil hat next time you get a Tesla idea so we can identify
you and give you proper directions.