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]

You may think that the Navy's just the baby brother to the two other US Armed Forces, but its weapon development record definitely shows otherwise. Just over two years after building an 8-Megajoule railgun, the branch has penned two $7 million checks to defense contractors Boeing and Raytheon for the design and development of a free-electron laser (FEL). For what it's worth, such a device has been yearned for since a day after the dawn of time, as unlike chemical-based lasers, the FEL would be 100 percent electric and easier to move. For those unaware,this stormy petrel of a weapon would be used to blast down missiles in mid-flight, all while putting on a pretty impressive light show. 'Course, the Navy must also figure out how to build a massive energy generating ship in order to use it, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here, okay?

[Image courtesy of AIP]

Northrop Grumman's been plugging along on this little project for years now, and at long last, the company has surpassed the milestone that it's been striving for. According to a new release that's just beaming with pride, the defense company has reportedly achieved 100 kilowatts from a solid-state laser. For those unfamiliar with the back story, 100 kilowatts is the level needed to create a laser gun that could actually do more than cause temporary blindness on the battlefield. Sadly, it seems that lethal laser pointers are still a good ways away, with Dan Wildt, vice president of Northrop's directed energy systems program, noting that "it is still a little heavy and a little big." It's all good, Northrop -- we're down with backpack weapons, too.

[Via CNET]

Seriously, is there anything a laser can't do? A team of mad scientists in Washington have concocted a system that could essentially eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes with lasers, and the whole thing can be built from parts sourced on eBay. The so-called mosquito laser is credited to an idea from Lowell Wood, an astrophysicist who worked with Edward Teller, the "architect of the original plan to use lasers to shield America from the rain of Soviet nuclear arms." In theory, at least, the technology could one day be used to draw a laser barrier of sorts around a village. Of course, the trick is to make the lasers powerful enough to smoke the bugs without harming humans -- any of you Earthlings up for a clinical trial or two?

[Via eHow]

We're trying... we're trying real hard to cling to our pacifist ways. But damn if the fusion of this US Army M110 Sniper Rifle and mounted iPod touch running the BulletFlight external ballistics calculator (available via the App Store) doesn't make us want to kill. Tap in the variables such as weather conditions, ammunition type, distance to target, and wind speed before exhaling and gently squeezing back on your second amendment right. God bless America.

[Via The Firearm Blog]

Read -- M110 sniper rifle with iPod touch mount
Read -- BulletFlight App [warning: iTunes link]

Disintegrator, meet your match. The wild 'n zany hackers over at ManaPotions have taken the Vulcan EBF-25 to heights that no one at Nerf could have ever imagined by transforming a relatively harmless foam dart gun into a bona fide chaingun. Post-hack, the weapon could fire "about as fast as a 7.62mm M60 Machine gun," which -- for those rusty on their ammunition specifications -- equates to 500 rounds-per-minute. The entire mod is laid out in dangerous detail down in the read link, though even the creators admit that you'll likely fry the motor and melt at least a few critical components after a fair amount of use. Check the vid just past the break for a scene sure to make your jaw drop.

The last time we heard anything about Northrop Grumman's development of a weaponized laser system, they were telling us that the "hardest part was over," and it looks like they weren't exaggerating. According to today's PR released by the 4th largest defense contractor in the world, the units, dubbed FIRESTRIKE, are now "ready for sale." In case you haven't been following every detail of the story, the FIRESTRIKE is a solid-state laser (think raygun), which weighs 400 pounds, has an Ethernet interface, and can be chained together with up to 7 other identical modules to create a 100 kw beam. The unit's obviously not very portable, and we don't have any information on its price, but we're going to go ahead and assume we can't afford it. Enemies of Engadget: you're safe, at least for now.

When you're caught between the lines of dueling mercenary armies, trapped in a rapidly aging body that doesn't quite react the way it used to, you need a reliable side arm to protect yourself. That was Solid Snake's situation in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, his chosen weapon the Silver Wolf pistol, recreated here in as a Japanese fan's stainless steel and rubber band DIY masterpiece. Constructed of numerous cross-drilled plates and featuring both a laser sight and integrated flashlight, the result looks to be impressively accurate and likely quite painful, as you can see for yourself in a video just below. Bonus reloading footage included!

[Thanks, Joe L.]

It's tough for us to go six months without a newfangled approach to hacking the famed USB missile launcher, so it's with great joy that we present to you this particular one. By utilizing a spare Wiimote, a USB-enabled PC, a USB missile launcher, a few strips of duct tape and a minor amount of programming knowledge, you too can craft an auto-aiming launcher which can find, aim at and attack IR targets. Grab the aforementioned items and hit the read link, just take care to not poke your eye out, alright?

[Via HackNMod, thanks Joe]

Okay, okay -- we get it. So maybe there's just not enough room in a genuine Zapper to fit all the necessary innards of a Nintendo Entertainment System into, but it's just a bit weird to see the Big N's antiquated console crammed into some other light gun. Similar to the NES-in-an-NES-controller mod we peeked earlier this week, this unit includes a plethora of games and all the controls you need; just plug it up to a TV, pop a few batteries in there and you're golden. Is it any surprise this guy was tracked down on Ben Heck's own forums?

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

We find it impossible to think that anyone in attendance of a local LAN party wouldn't be awestruck when this rig waltzed in, and truthfully, we'd be a little distracted by its boyish good looks all the while. TiTON -- the same mastermind that brought us the Team Fortress 2 Dispenser -- has recreated a TF2 sentry that (unfortunately) fires no real shells at enemies. On the upside, it does pack enough hardware to enable gamers to light up rebel forces within a digital realm, but just like your 16th birthday cake, this one may be too pretty to indulge in. Tap the read link for lots more images and a breakdown of the build.

Arthur C. Clarke's ideas have had a tendency of becoming a reality in the past, and it looks like that's now happening yet again, in this case with a little help from the folks at DARPA. As New Scientist reports, the prolific agency is currently working on a new weapon system that bears a striking resembles to the Stiletto weapon in Clarke's 1955 novel Earthlight. That science fiction version was described as "a solid bar of light" that can pierce a spacecraft "as an entomologist pierces a butterfly with a pin." Or, more specifically, "a jet of molten metal, hurled through space at several hundred kilometers per second by the most powerful electro-magnets ever built." DARPA's MAHEM weapon (or Magneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition), on the other hand, is described by New Scientist as using magnetic fields to "propel either a narrow jet of molten metal or a chunk of molten metal that morphs into an aerodynamic slug during flight." There is a slight difference, however, in that MAHEM's electromagnetic field will be generated by an explosion, and not a giant electro-magnet. It's also not clear if MAHEM will be used to defend a fortress on the moon, although that's not exactly as far fetched as it once seemed either.

Automated paintball machines have been spotted holding down a-many of forts, but it's still been relatively hard to find one pre-built and ready for purchase. Enter Evolution Model Technology, whose Paintball Sentry Turret is mighty enough to mow down even the deepest of crosstown rival cliques trying to get up in your area. Arriving in wired and wireless versions, the unit is available with water- or winter-proof armor, can be controlled remotely and features a head that rotates 350-degrees and tilts 90-degrees. Best of all, the cold blooded plastering machine can be customized to the hilt for those living in seriously dodgy locales, but considering the $1,399.50 (and way, way up) price tag, you better have one incredible stash of valuables to protect before pulling the proverbial trigger.

[Via technabob]