The US Navy has successfully tested a ship borne laser, powerful enough to destroy small craft.
A futuristic laser mounted on a speeding cruiser successfully blasted a bobbing, weaving boat from the waters of the Pacific Ocean -- the first test at sea of such a gun and a fresh milestone in the Navy's quest to reoutfit the fleet with a host of laser weapons, the Navy announced Friday.Now how cool is that? Full speed ahead and damn the photon torpedos!
"We were able to have a destructive effect on a high-speed cruising target," chief of Naval research Rear Adm. Nevin Carr told FoxNews.com.
The test occurred Wednesday near San Nicholas Island, off the coast of Central California in the Pacific Ocean test range, from a laser gun mounted onto the deck of the Navy’s self-defense test ship, former USS Paul Foster.
In a video of the event, the small boat can be seen catching fire and ultimately bursting into flames, a conflagration caused by the navy's distant gun. Some details of the event were classified, including the exact range of the shot, but Carr could provide some information: "We're talking miles, not yards," Carr said.
The laser set fire to one of the outboard engines of this target craft. A video of the test can be seen here. A laser like this is capable of burning through 20 feet of steel in a second.
14 comments:
Don't tell Obama, he'll have it destroyed.
The times they are achangin'!
Odie - He'll give it the the Libyan rebels.
Gorges - I think of the 45,000 ton Missouri Class battleships of WWII or the 100,000 ton aircraft carriers of today; in forty years they'll be as useful as canoes.
Maybe this is what Obama meant by "focusing like a laser on jobs".
Destroy them.
Rhod - in that case he was very successful. US jobs went down in flames like the twin Mercs in the picture.
The only defense against a laser is a tin foil hat.
Trestin - no, no, no. That's the defense against Martian Mind Rays and Venusian Hemorrhoids.
My Venusian Hemorrhoids came in a micro-waveable package.
Wait til they are using Megaplexes of power. Which should be soon.
Maybe they can track, lock on and vaporize all the space junk floating around the planet.
Rhod - just make sure you let the packet set until it stops wriggling.
Sig, Done !
Pirates beware, don't name your vessel "Ming the Merciless."
Pewster - that'll turn them into pirate pop tarts!
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