Northrop Grumman creates 100 kilowatt laser, could usher in World War III
By Darren Murph 
posted Mar 23rd 2009 9:12AM
posted Mar 23rd 2009 9:12AM
[Via CNET]
posted Mar 23rd 2009 9:12AM
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A LITTLE heavy? A LITTLE big? It looks like a freakin' mobile restaurant fridge! Not to mention the enemy might bail when they see a giant shiny metal box roll out onto the field.
On the flip side of this coin, at least the tech exists now.
yeah, too big to fit on sharks or sea bass.
oh well.
Mini Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! come over here....
Its not a problem. You could easily mount this on a truck; or better yet, put 4 or 5 f them in a plane and rip apart 5 targets at once while flying around.
Guess where I eated this morning
EPIC WIN for NORTH KOREA = mirrors at a 90' angle around important installations.
A 100KW laser will go through a normal mirror like a bullet goes though Saran Wrap.
Is that the actual picture of the device?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRBNkMnG4uY
I'm-a firin' mah layzar!
"Sadly, it seems that lethal laser pointers are still a good ways away"
You know what's sad buddy, it's people like you who get a hardon everytime some 'defense' company develops a new weapon. I hate to repeat the same thing every pacifist says, but if they'd use that money for food&education programs the world would be a better place. Not to mention the CO2 footprint the 100kW laser has..
Please say you are joking.... cause otherwise we should be using our money for government sponsored enforced sterilization plans.
you must be from California
Sadly, we are saving too many lives these days. Currently the amount of living humans, excedes the total number that have so far died. How can we continue on this planet if we keep expanding at an ever-increasing rate. Lets have a cull... If a country cannot sustain it's population, then a program similar to China's one child per couple should be considered. Then with the use of this laser in a C140, all of those families with more than one child should be zapped. Most of the witnesses would think that it was an act of god and therefore, not breed for a generation. Slowly population of Earth reaches a sustainable level again and more power will be free to play with these lasers again.
@Dom1nion: "Currently the amount of living humans, excedes the total number that have so far died."
How could this be even remotely possible?
"How could this be even remotely possible? "
It can't
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/dead.asp
We already have too many fat people... and there will always be stupid people. Lasers are the new black
Joe,
http://www.wilderdom.com/images/WorldPopulationGraph.jpg
There are lots of old people living twice as long as their parents, and they had lots of babies. My 4 grandparents are responsible for 100 people living today in our extended families. And the world wide population wasn't that great until the 1900's.
There hasn't been any world wars or global viruses (viri?) to wipe out 50% of the population in 60 years now. And modern medicine is keeping people alive for 30-50 years longer than we used to live.
Big-ass lasers have HUGE scientific applications.
Fusion experiments, for instance.
Laser weapons are much friendlier to the environment than chunks of lead and DU. To wit: a laser beam doesn't stick around for a century after it's fired.
With regards to this being a bad thing, folks, this company is keeping you safe....so perhaps it's time to remove your tinfoil hats. The applications for this technology are defensive. We don't need a laser to hit a target on the ground. We have any number of precision-guided standoff munitions that can fly down air vents. This technology is meant to intercept fast-moving *weapon* targets - e.g., inbound ballistic missiles, inbound rockets, inbound arty...even perhaps inbound kinetic weapons like tank sabots and bullets (eventually). This technology is a good thing. Could it be used for evil? Yes, perhaps...but so could velcro...and, as stated previously, we have all the PGMs that we need to fire from standoff distances and hit any spot on the ground we choose...and a huge infrastructure to support those munitions. A good solid bunker roof would defeat this laser...but don't let that stop you from branding excellent scientific research meant to make the world a safer place as evil.
That will make tons of popcorn.
This is Kent. This is what happens to people when they get too sexually frustrated.
I'd like to see more of you in the lab.
Ok, I'll gain weight.
It's on G4 right now.
It's a chemical laser but in solid, not gaseous, form. Put simply, in deference to you, Kent, it's like lasing a stick of dynamite. As soon as we apply a field, we couple to a state, it is radiatively coupled to the ground state. I figure we can extract at least ten to the twenty-first photons per cubic centimeter which will give one kilojoule per cubic centimeter at 600 nanometers, or, one megajoule per liter.
AND STOP PLAYING WITH YOURSELF!
Carter: "It's big."
Hathaway: "It's supposed to be big."
Oh wait.
Knight: "Kent puts his name on his license plate..."
Taylor: "My mother does the same thing with my underwear."
Knight: "Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?"
Hollyfeld: "I figure you've increased the power output to, what, six megawatts?"
Knight: "Yeah, about that."
Hollyfeld: "What would you use that for?"
"Ick" Ikagami: "Making enormous Swiss cheese?"
And, this is how another world war begins.
Really? BEcause I always thought it began like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skI9Yyq1Kbc
This is new? Didn't anyone see Short Circuit and Short Circut 2?!?!?
No... No... No... No... Yes, err I mean no
This is all bull. I WANT MY LASEREYES!
Lasereyes...How about LASERCATS!
PEW PEW
@Bmills
Sharkmounted Lasercats with Lasereyes.
hmm, must remember to keep my pocket mirror in my pocket... right back at you!
Remember kids: anything revealed to the public masses has already been in use by the US gov't for at least five years :/
Exactly, they've already got these bitches the size of the noisy cricket.
How did Engadget miss something so crucial! They are doing sustained 85 minute test fires!
100 kWh = 100,000 J/s
60 s = 1 minute
So during a test fire they pull a total of 510,000,000 (510 Million) Joules of energy!
Of course these test shots are just so they can figure out what is the best configuration to run the system at in combat.
FYI: that's of the order of 0.1 tons of TNT.
"The laser already has been operated at above 100kW for a total duration of more than 85 minutes."
That means is you add up all the firing times, it equals 85 minutes NOT 85 consecutive minutes.
I want 5 megawatts by mid-May.
oooooh I bet the Bond villains are salivating over this
But can it fix my blindness?
If by "fix" you mean "cause", then yes.
Yeah, but is it in Doom?
Sweet! New and exciting ways to kill each other. :\
Having just seen that movie by the Governador yesterday afternoon, this is a tad bit disconcerting to see today.
Please tell me the brand lable doesn't say Skynet! :-º