US Navy Successfully Tests Real Life Laser Gun

[alfsauve]

Probably old news to some of you but the Navy has sucessfully tested a laser weapon system.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/05/06/us-navy-successfully-tests-real-life-laser-gun/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=2015-05-09&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter

Here's the rub.  This weapon is only good for targets you can actually see from the ship.  Unlike projectile weapons, it can't hit targets over the horizon.

Long live the battle ships.

[Grizzle_Bear]

Sounds like it would be a great anti-aircraft/anti-missile weapon.

Might also do well against boatloads of ragheads with explosives.

[tombogan03884]

They already had a rail gun that worked pretty well in the air defense roll.

http://www.onr.navy.mil/Media-Center/Fact-Sheets/Electromagnetic-Railgun.aspx


What Is It?

The EM Railgun launcher is a long-range weapon that fires projectiles using electricity instead of chemical propellants. Magnetic fields created by high electrical currents accelerate a sliding metal conductor, or armature, between two rails to launch projectiles at 4,500 mph.


How Does It Work?

    Electricity generated by the ship is stored over several seconds in the pulsed power system.
    Next, an electric pulse is sent to the railgun, creating an electromagnetic force accelerating the projectile up to Mach 6.
    Using its extreme speed on impact, the kinetic energy warhead eliminates the hazards of high explosives in the ship and unexploded ordnance on the battlefield.



What Will It Accomplish?

    With its increased velocity and extended range, the EM Railgun will give Sailors a multi-mission capability, allowing them to conduct precise naval surface fire support or land strikes; ship defense; and surface warfare to deter enemy vessels.
    Navy planners are targeting a 100+ nautical mile initial capability.
    A variety of new and existing naval platforms are being studied for integration of a future tactical railgun system.

Here's the Laser

The U.S. Navy says its new laser weapon works and it will use it if it has to.

The Office of Naval Research reported Wednesday that its laser weapons system -- dubbed LaWS -- had performed flawlessly in tests aboard the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce in the Arabian Gulf from September to November.

"Laser weapons are powerful, affordable and will play a vital role in the future of naval combat operations," Rear Adm. Matthew L. Klunder, chief of naval research, said in a statement. "We ran this particular weapon, a prototype, through some extremely tough paces, and it locked on and destroyed the targets we designated with near-instantaneous lethality."

Klunder said the laser performed so well that the commander of the Ponce is now authorized to use it in defense of the vessel, according to a report from the U.S. Naval Institute.

"The captain of that ship has all of the authorities necessary if there was a threat inbound to that ship to protect our sailors and Marines (and) we would defend that ship with that laser system," Klunder is quoted as saying in a USNI report.

The laser could be used to stop threats ranging from drones and helicopters to small patrol boats, Klunder said, according to the USNI report.

Navy video released Wednesday shows the LaWS hitting exactly those types of targets. Watching the video, you can't see any light beam as you might expect from watching science fiction movies. Instead, the targets just burn up.

The Navy says the laser weapon is safer than conventional arms that use propellants and explosive warheads, and more cost-effective.

"At less than a dollar per shot, there's no question about the value LaWS provides," Klunder said in the Navy statement. "With affordability a serious concern for our defense budgets, this will more effectively manage resources to ensure our sailors and Marines are never in a fair fight."

The laser also takes fewer crew members to operate. It can be fired by one sailor using a video game-like controller.

The weapon performed without failure in conditions of high wind, humidity and temperature, the Navy said.

The Navy hopes to deploy variations of the laser weapon system in the fleet by 2020.

[Solus]

The rail gun is interesting in that it is basically a very technologically advanced sling shot.

[alfsauve]

The rail gun is interesting in that it is basically a very technologically advanced sling shot.

And in most jurisdictions, there are fewer restrictions than air guns.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Here's steam punk for you. Solus's electric sling shot powered by a steam (Nuke) power source.
 They still need traditional guns for indirect fire no matter how high tech they get.

[Solus]

Now that got me thinking....for indirect fire, trade the rail gun for that nuke powered Catapult...but rate of fire might be a concern..

[tombogan03884]

I got Solus thinking ?
Damn, I HATE it when that happens !
                     

[billt]

They still need traditional guns for indirect fire no matter how high tech they get.

It's always been that way, and it always will. I remember when the F-4 Phantom came on line at the beginning of the Vietnam War. They designed it without a gun. It was totally reliant on missiles. After several losses, and pilot complaints, they retro fitted a Vulcan Rapid Fire Cannon into a pod that mounted on to one of the hard points on the belly of the plane. The losses dropped dramatically.

[tombogan03884]

Yeah, it was hard to dog fight with no teeth.
I see both of these replacing missiles ( somewhat) in the anti air, anti missile, and anti satellite roles .
Maybe mount it with THIS.

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/nasa-warp-drive-spaceship-mars/2015/05/01/id/641944/

NASA has successfully tested a type of "warp drive" popularized in the science fiction franchise "Star Trek" that could allow spaceships to travel at near light speed without using rocket fuel.

NASA announced on Wednesday that a team working at the Johnson Space Center tested the electromagnetic propulsion drive in a vacuum.

"Thrust measurements of the EM Drive defy classical physics' expectations that such a closed (microwave) cavity should be unusable for space propulsion because of the law of conservation of momentum," wrote José Rodal, Jeremiah Mullikin and Noel Munson for NASA Spaceflight.com.
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"The concept of an EM Drive as put forth by (Satellite Propulsion Research Ltd.) was that electromagnetic microwave cavities might provide for the direct conversion of electrical energy to thrust without the need to expel any propellant," they wrote.

NASA scientists said the warp drive would allow man-made spaceships to reach Mars in 70 days, noted the website.

"A 90 metric ton, 2 MegaWatt nuclear electric propulsion mission to Mars (would have) considerable reduction in transit times due to having a thrust-to-mass ratio greater than the gravitational acceleration of the sun," Harold "Sonny" White of the Johnson Space Center told NASA Spaceflight.com.

Scientists stressed, according to The Verge's Jacob Kastrenakes, that testing is just at the beginning stage but without the need for rocket fuel in space, it could reduce the volume that NASA and other space providers need to initially launch out of Earth's orbit.

"There's obviously still quite a bit of work to be done here," Kastrenakes wrote. "NASA, through its Eagleworks lab, reportedly intends to do further tests on EM Drives in a vacuum after seeing these latest results. Should the drive pan out one day, the belief is that it would dramatically reduce the weight of what NASA has to launch into space."

Paul March, an engineer with the Johnson Space Center, told CNET.com that the drive could solve a "fundamental problem that has been hindering manned spaceflight from the termination of the Apollo moon program. That being the availability of a robust and cost-effective power and propulsion technology that can break us loose from the shackles of the rocket equation."