When I was a kid, I was always so fascinated with my father's work. My Dad was in the Navy, a Senior Chief Machinist's Mate (MMCS), and he always has great stories about his days aboard a ship at sea bound for war. When you're a kid, the strangest things fascinate you. I was always [...]
Read More defense, drone strikes, drones, Gatling, General Dynamics, Laser, Phalanx, Phalanx CIWS, Raytheon, Rheinmetall DefenceCharming logo. As we all know from my somewhat sarcastic-but-still-truthful ramblings on the military's high-energy laser program, the government spends more money on defense than they do on a pretty large percentage of anything else. Some new information on Boeing's High-Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) was just released, and apparently it's still on and [...]
Read More Boeing, defense, HEL TD, High-Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator, lasers, militaryThe HOOD, not the 'hood. The government would never go into the 'hood and light up cars with a drone mounted laser. Right? So, as of June, the Boeing Corporation had been testing its new 25kW thin-disk laser system, which is apparently "weapons-grade" now. From the press release at Boeing: "Solid-state lasers will revolutionize the [...]
Read More Boeing, C-130, COIL laser, defense, Laser, light weapons, military, thin disk laserI am fairly confused about how this thing is being touted among its specified community – first the ABL is on track, then it's being scrapped. Then it's back in testing, then it's scrapped. I'm catching up on a few hundred websites now, but from about a week ago comes this video of the YAL-1 [...]
Read More ABL, Airborne Laser, Boeing, Danger Room, defense, defense light, Department of Defense, lasers, war profiteers, weaponsA company called Raytheon (ever heard of a Phalanx gatling gun?) is about to start selling what they're calling the Active Denial System, or ADS. It is apparently a non-lethal energy ray that penetrates the skin about 1/64th of an inch causing excruciating temporary pain. In case you're wondering, yes – this is a functioning [...]
Read More Active Denial System, ADS, defense, hurt beam, Microwave, military, pain ray, Raytheon, tortureI have written and referred to the 747 with the big real genius laser strapped to the nose a bunch of times. I just read an article over at Wired's Danger Room about the YAL-1 project – some call it the "Flying Lightsaber" – and things ain't going too well financially. The project is $4 [...]
Read More Airborne Laser, defense, megawatt, Northrop Grumman, YAL-1Defense contractor Northrop Grumman just recently released information that they've created a solid state laser that fired over 100kW in a beam – 105.5kW, to be relatively exact. This mile marker is apparently a big deal, because now Northrop Grumman has entered the weaponized laser market. This is also significant, as they've now created the [...]
Read More 100kW laser, defense, Laser, military, Northrop Grummond, YAL-1More military uses of light, again in the form of laser light. First I heard about the big jumbo jet that could kill missiles in flight – and now exists a humvee-mounted laser cannon that actually shot a spy drone out of the sky. From the article at New Scientist: The Laser Avenger is an [...]
Read More defense, Laser, military, weapon