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Raytheon readying directed energy warheads to fry enemy electronics, cook allied Pop Tarts
Raytheon, the people who brought you the pain ray, are at it again. The defense giant is planning an arsenal of "directed energy warheads" expected to use radio and microwaves to electronically neutralize targets rather than blow them up. The company's being typically secretive about details, but mentions the recent acquisition of Ktech, a firm specializing in airborne electronic warfare and enemy vulnerability assessment, giving us a clue about how it might all work. It's believed the tech will be retrofitted to existing missiles: the new payloads will identify vulnerable electronics then disrupt or even destroy them with a radio frequency beam or high-powered microwaves (HPM). The warheads would monitor the results, providing valuable battlefield intelligence -- while, of course, killing fewer dudes on the ground. With industry rival BAE working on a seaworthy microwave gun to fry boat engines, we're looking forward to future of friendly drones circling overhead, always ready to heat up our Hot Pockets.
US government contractor developing 'microwave gun,' Hot Pockets tremble
Ah, the beloved "electronic bomb," able to disable all technology in its vicinity: variations on the concept go way back, but useful prototypes remain tantalizingly out of reach. Into the breach steps defense contractor BAE Systems, taking a fresh crack with a High-Powered Microwave (HPM) gun intended to disable small boat engines – if successful, the technology may also target ships, UAVs, and missile payloads. The secret-shrouded weapon sounds similar to Boeing's planned airborne EMP weapon, but lacking the missile delivery systems. BAE seems to be betting big on electromagnetic warfare as a future battlefield tactic, with a manager pitching the sci-fi scene to Aviation Week: "Unlike lasers, HPM beams don't need a lot of accuracy. With a fan [of HPM energy] you can target 10-30 small boats. If you can knock out 50-75% of the engines in a swarm, you can then concentrate on the remainder with lasers or kinetic [cannons]." To develop better defenses against such attacks, the contractor received $150,000 from the Air Force to test-fire microwaves at military computers. No word on whether said defenses involve generous use of tin foil.
The Light and How to Swing It: Best practices for holy paladins
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like what to look for in your World of Logs parses. Holy paladins are doing all right. While patch 4.1's notes may have retribution and protection up in arms about the new cooldown on Word of Glory, holy paladins are exempt via Walk in the Light. We're actually not seeing any changes in the upcoming patch -- at least, none that have been announced yet. The lack of updates shouldn't come as a surprise to a healing class that's been performing relatively well. Minor balances to our mana and effectiveness have been used to keep us in line with the other healers, but we're otherwise stable. Patch 4.1 will buff our recently discussed set bonus, but that doesn't help improve the gear today. Just because Blizzard doesn't have any buffs planned doesn't mean that we can't work on improving our performance naturally. There is truly no WoW player who can perform perfectly at every moment, but the closer we get to that ideal, the stronger healers we become. As healers, we should constantly be developing our skills and refining our gameplay. There's nothing worse than feeling like the weak link on the chain, and so keeping ourselves at top healing efficiency is crucial to being successful in whatever environment you're healing in.
The Light and How to Swing It: Straight talk about holy paladin healing
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like how come I had to use Lay on Hands to save that tank. You've heard me talk about Cataclysm's revolutionary triage paradigm of healing, and you've read all about the new Three Heal style for heal design. Every healing class starts with three nearly-identical healing spells as a baseline. The devs then sprinkle in a few extra heals to make each class somewhat unique. Add in a variety of AoE and specialty heals, and you've got a recipe for any one of the healing classes in Cataclysm. We were subject to a lot of retooling to get our holy tree to fit into this model, but it was definitely a success. While it's fun to discuss the paradigm from a bird's-eye view, it's also not representative of actually healing encounters. WoW isn't played with a pen and paper, but with a keyboard and mouse. Every boss encounter requires different techniques, and their varying mechanics are key in determining the best course of action. How can we take what we know about the new healing paradigm and actually apply it to real encounters? What heals are holy paladins really using today?
Boeing to develop microwave-based airborne EMP weapon
Boeing's been busy with the high-tech death lately -- just a week after the company announced the Phantom Ray fighter UAV, it's back in the news with a high-powered airborne microwave weapon designed to knock out enemy electronics. The goal is to more or less destroy the enemy's tech with out having to set off one of those pesky nuclear explosions necessary for an EMP, and Boeing plans to test the tech out both in the air and on the ground several times over the next three years as part of the Air Force's Counter-electronics High power microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) project. We'll be ready with the popcorn. [Via The Register]
Spiritual Guidance: Is Greater Heal on Life Support?
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. Is the Priest usage of Greater Heal fading away? Matticus shall answer! An excellent thread on Plus Heal has caught my attention and it's a topic that's also been picked up by Kestrel. It's about the current use of Greater Heal (or lack thereof). Check your meters. Specifically, check your cast sequences. See if you can determine how often you use Greater Heal on a typical night. If you're a player who uses it often, I applaud you. From a mathematical and healing efficiency stand point, Greater Heal has the edge. Under lab conditions. Except raid environments aren't lab conditions. Let's go into detail about when Greater Heal is used in Discipline and Holy after the break.
