US Navy fries boat with Laser Cannon
First it was a working prototype of a rail gun, now the the US Navy has just successfully tested a laser weapon mounted on a warship and with it, they managed to fry a smaller boat’s engine. The laser weapon was on the USS Paul Foster, produced a 15-kilowatt pulse from a solid-state high-energy laser [...]
First it was a working prototype of a rail gun, now the the US Navy has just successfully tested a laser weapon mounted on a warship and with it, they managed to fry a smaller boat’s engine.
The laser weapon was on the USS Paul Foster, produced a 15-kilowatt pulse from a solid-state high-energy laser (HEL) and despite the challenging conditions in the Pacific ocean, they crippled the target boat by setting its engine on fire. Check out the video below:
It may looked like the engine caught fire from some internal damage but it was really caused by a laser pulse, invisible to the human eye, fired from the USS Paul Foster. Which is even scarier as if you happen to be on the target vessel, you wouldn’t know you were being fired upon until your engine blows up or you yourself are suddenly fried.
Tomahawk cruise missiles and other smart bombs are cool, but lasers capable of melting your face off or blowing a hole through your ship, that’s just awesome! And the US Navy wouldn’t stop there, they are currently working on more powerful laser weapons in the megawatt range.
Gunpowder is medieval, lasers weapons and rail guns are just a few decades away. And I’m pretty sure force fields would be next.
Via PCMag.com
Content from...
