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The US Army's testing clip-on ray gun attachments for its rifles
The energy-blasting G.I. Joe future that we've all been waiting for is steadily getting closer. Not only is the US Army outfitting trucks with increasingly powerful laser systems, it is also looking to provide similar capabilities to its dismounted troops as well. Dubbed "Burke Pulser" attachments after their creator Army Armament Research electronics engineer James E. Burke, these devices utilize a piezoelectric generator and two protruding antennas to generate powerful bursts of electrical. The entire unit fits onto the end of the Army's M4 carbine just as a standard-issue flash suppressor does.
The Air Force will give you $150,000 to blast its weeds with a laser
With the holiday season just around the corner, the Air Force has been busy compiling its yuletide wish list, and it's got some pretty strange requests. Included on its latest call for small business innovations is a curious proposal for a project called "Floral Disruptor – Directed Energy Weed Abatement and Prevention Tool." According to Air Force documents, this project calls for "a device that uses directed energy technology to prevent and abate unwanted plants (weeds) in areas that require control or defoliation." Translation: a ray gun to blast weeds. Turns out, the Air Force spends a handsome chunk of cash each year on weed control -- so much so, in fact, that it's willing to pay $150,000 in grant money to anyone whose device can "deter, disrupt, deny, or degrade the desired objective." Private companies have already begun testing devices that annihilate weeds with lasers, microwave radiation and even sound, which is why the Air Force feels confident that the approach can bear fruit. But before you start entertaining fantasies of mass botanical killings, keep in mind that the government will only accept solutions that don't "target personnel or wildlife." As a Force rep explained to Wired, the idea is to develop an eagle-eyed contraption that lessens its dependence upon costly chemicals and pesticides. Besides, have you seen the Army's front lawn? It's immaculate.
Get your steampunk on with a model blaster from Massively and ARGO Online
Do you love all things steampunk? Have you been indulging that preference in ARGO Online? Well, that's about to pay off thanks to Massively's latest giveaway. The ARGO Online development team has given us some awesome model blasters sure to delight any steampunk fan. The first prize winner will receive the Big Daddy, an 11.25-inch revolver complete with display stand. Three second prize winners will receive The Consolidator, a smaller raygun model, also with a display stand. So what do you have to do to get your hands on one of these? Play some ARGO, of course! Send your best screenshot of steampunk gameplay in ARGO Online to rubi@massively.com by noon EDT on Monday, May 9th. Let us know what area of ARGO you took it in and what we're seeing, and we'll choose the four best on Monday and send each winner one of these deadly looking little beauties. In the meantime, check out our gallery below for a detailed look at your potential new toys. Please read our contest rules for eligibility information, and good luck to all! %Gallery-122999%
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.
PlayStation Move shooting attachment in pictures: the ray gun you always dreamed of
We heard a mention of the PlayStation Move shooting attachment in Sony's Move E3 press release, but now that we've seen photos of the thing we think we're in love. The trigger of the attachment locks in with the analog "T" trigger button of the slotted-in Move controller for some sweet, shoot-tastic shooting, while the face buttons of the controller remain accessible thanks to a window cutout up top. But while we're sure it works great and all that silly nonsense, we're just totally enamored with the looks: it's like a 1950's ray gun, and with a light-up ball on the end and the future of motion gaming at your fingertips, perhaps that's not so far from the truth. The ray gun part. The 50's were actually a pretty bad year for motion controlled console gaming. %Gallery-95391%
Raytheon sells its first 'pain ray,' and the less lethal arms race begins
As you are no doubt aware, one of the perks of being in the corporate security field is that you get to try out things that would come across as, well, unseemly if put in the hands of the government. While there's been some controversy over the possible use of Raytheon's 10,000 pound "portable" Silent Guardian by the military, it appears that at least one private customer has no such qualms. We're not sure exactly who placed the order -- news of an "Impending Direct Commercial Sale" was just one bullet point of many at Raytheon's recent presentation at a NATO workshop on anti-pirate technologies. The company itself is being mum on the subject, saying that it would be "premature" to name names at the present time, but rest assured -- this is only the beginning. As soon as these things are small enough to fit in your briefcase or glove compartment, every nut in your neighborhood will want one. In the mean time, looks like you're stuck with the Taser. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Wired]
Navy shells out for development of missile-killing free-electron laser
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]
Raytheon developing compact, inexpensive human microwaves
As you know, if you like your weapons "less than lethal" (but much more than comfortable) the U.S. military is your go-to guy. So great is its love for tormenting folks on future battlefields that the Pentagon has spent a small fortune on devices meant to incapacitate through the use of sound, electricity, and microwaves -- including the Silent Guardian that Raytheon trotted out a while back. According to Wired, the company has recently been awarded a couple interesting contracts relating to their human microwave, including one for a "solid state source for use in non-lethal weapons," and another for gallium nitride development. Details are murky, but GaN -- a semiconductor for missile defense radars -- apparently "looks very promising for high-power microwave amplification," allowing the company to greatly reduce the size and cost of the device. The good news? Defense technology that once took up a whole shipping container and cost several million dollars might be getting much smaller, and cheaper, in the future. The bad news? It really really really hurts.
Northrop Grumman's weaponized laser on sale now, definitely won't hug you
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.
Microwave ray gun promises to put sounds in people's heads
As we've seen countless times, ray guns can employ any number of less than lethal means to stop their targets in their tracks, and it looks like the Sierra Nevada Corporation is making some progress on one of the more novel methods, with its MEDUSA system apparently able to beam sounds into people's heads. According to NewScientist, that's done by exploiting the "microwave audio effect," which uses short microwave pulses to rapidly heat tissue and cause a "shockwave inside the skull." The system (not exactly as pictured above), is also apparently also able to be fine-tuned enough to produce recognizable sounds, and the company claims that it's now ready to actually start building 'em in earnest. The US Navy, who funded the research, still seems to be staying mum on that last point though.[Via Slashdot, image courtesy NASA.gov]
Raytheon's Silent Guardian keeps crowds under control
Raytheon sure loves its lasers, and it's proving so with the crowd-repelling Silent Guardian. The device, which is part of the Directed Energy Solutions program, is reportedly designed to be mounted onto a military vehicle where it can "throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile," penetrating enemy skin just 1/64th of an inch and not causing "visible, permanent injury." Essentially, the invisible beam has the ability to inflict "limitless, unbearable pain," which seems to stop just as soon as you're able to get out of the ray's path. According to its maker, the machine could be used in "various commercial and military applications including law enforcement, checkpoint security, facility protection, force protection and peacekeeping missions," and it's ready to calm the masses as we speak.[Via InformationWeek]Read - Silent Guardian product pageRead - Silent Guardian hands-on
