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US Navy wants to blast enemy drones with Humvee-mounted laser cannons
Mounting laser weapons on a Humvee to shoot down drones might seem like a military pipe dream, but the US Navy has now awarded contracts for just that. It figures that unfriendly armies will soon be equipped with inexpensive camera- or bomb-equipped UAVs, and wants a highly portable way to counter them. Though its 50kW ADAM HEL laser is powerful enough to down most drones by firing 50 laser bursts in a millisecond, the mounting platform for that weapon is a battleship. The Navy's confident that more efficient 30kW lasers could still do the job, however, and given recent progress, shrunk down enough to fit on a Hummer. It will trial a 10kW system against targets later this year as a step toward the 30kW system, which it hopes will be test-ready by 2016. Meanwhile, watch the ADAM laser destroy hapless drones, missiles and boats in the videos below.
E3 2012: RIFT 1.9, Storm Legion, and beyond
RIFT players, Trion loves you. You thought you knew that, but you haven't seen developers champing at the bit trying to figure out whether marketing will allow them to spill all the cool beans that are in store for you. Trion works very hard to crank out quality content at a quick pace, and RIFT players are going to see it in spades. At E3 this week,we got some information not only on 1.9 but also on RIFT's first full expansion, Storm Legion.
Picaroon polishing beta 'questorials'
Picaroon's beta phase is sailing merrily along, and Nice Technology is talking up a few of the MMORTS's features in a new press release. The newbie experience is fresh on the minds of beta testers and developers, and Nice producer Toby Simpson says that the company has come up with "questorials" that are organized into mission groups to effectively communicate the game's basics while avoiding the dreaded need for players to spend time reading a manual. "We know that documentation is the very last thing that anyone reads," Simpson explains, noting that Nice has recently added PvE pirate battle questorials to introduce the game's combat. Picaroon's beta is also gearing up to release new content in the form of a new building called the Technology Centre. In a nutshell, the Centre offers new strategies for defending islands (courtesy of an orbital laser cannon satellite) as well as a new game mode called persistent Picaroon. Head to the official website for more details.
Navy successfully tests laser-equipped robot, freaks us out in the process
We do not like where this is heading, not one bit. The Navy has been testing laser-armed robotic gun turrets for a while, and now the Register (UK) is reporting that the technology has finally been used to knock a drone out of the sky, "in an over-the-water, combat representative scenario" at San Nicolas Island. Raytheon's Phalanx CIWS, generally outfitted with a 20mm Gatling gun, is a ship's last line of defense against incoming missiles. If they can be outfitted with lasers, there will be two distinct advantages: first, they wouldn't have to be reloaded; and second, when used on land, the surrounding area won't be littered with quite so much debris (shrapnel and unexploded rounds). Then again, we can think of one distinct disadvantage: there will be robots running around with laser cannons!
Boeing developing truck-mounted laser cannons for US Army
Boeing is certainly no stranger to lasers of various sorts, and it's now extending its expertise to the US Army, recently snagging a $7 million contract to begin developing a truck-mounted laser weapon system. From the sound of it, the system appears to be not unlike a mobile version of the still-in-development Skyguard laser defense system, with it designed to shoot down rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds. According to Boeing, the laser cannon would be mounted on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (not exactly as pictured above) and, if the Army approves, could end up costing a cool $50 million for a "significant component" of the system to be built and tested. [Via Slashdot]
