U.S. Navy to Zap Enemies With Futuristic Laser

Cnn.com - The future has arrived at the U.S. Navy, which will begin deploying lasers this year and an electromagnetic rail gun within two years.

The laser will be set up on the transport dock USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf. One single sailor can operate the device, which can burn through targets and fry electronics with beams that are invisible to the human eye. The laser is designed to shoot down aerial drones and disable swarming speedboats.

Besides its ability to be fired continuously, the biggest advantage of the laser is that it’s cheaper to use than missiles and smart bombs. The downside is that the laser is a lot less efficient if there’s rain, dust or turbulence in the atmosphere.

The Navy is also working on getting electromagnetic rail guns ready for deployment. The rail guns, which fires projectiles at six or seven times the speed of sound, are meant to replace or supplement traditional firearms.

Massive laser at National Ignition Facility takes baby step toward fusion

It’s one small step for energy -- and one giant blast for lasers.

Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility announced Tuesday a successful test of its ultrapowerful laser system, which melds 192 laser beams into a single incredible burst of energy. On Aug. 13, the facility was activated for 14 billionths of a second and aimed at a tiny capsule of fuel. The result: approximately 350 trillion watts of power -- hundreds of times more than the entire United States consumes at any given instant.

“We’re working in a place where no human has ever gone before,” Ed Moses, principle associate director for NIF and Photon Science, told FoxNews.com. “We’re working on the bleeding edge of fusion physics.”

Fusion is similar to fission, where atoms are split releasing massive amounts of energy. But instead of being torn apart, atoms are welded together in fusion. It’s the same ongoing energy process in the sun and other stars, a "perfect power" because more energy is released than used. Fusion could solve the world’s energy problems -- if it's possible at all.

In the NIF, beams of light converge on pellets of hydrogen isotopes to create a controlled micro-explosion. As the beams move through a series of amplifiers, their energy increases. From beginning to end, the total energy grows from one-billionth of a joule to a potential high of 4 million joules, NIF says -- a factor of more than a quadrillion. The current test reached 1.7 million joules (or megajoules), though a test last year hit a record high of 1.85.

Last year’s test yielded unexpected results, however. In this test, NIF dialed down the laser beam’s power and tweaked it, for tremendous results.

We lowered the energy a tiny bit -- about 5 percent -- but more important, we changed the shape of the energy pulse. We moved energy from the back of the pulse to the front. We got three times the energy out,” Moses told FoxNews.com.

“Our goal is to get fusion burn -- more energy out than we put in.”

Because the laser is on for the merest fraction of a second, it costs little to operate -- between $5 and $20 per blast. Still, the cost of the facility has raised temperatures in Washington. The gigantic laser lab was built in California for $3.5 billion in 2008, and ran up approximately $1.5 billion more in operating costs over the past five years.

Despite the latest success, ignition hasn’t happened, and NIF’s managers admitted to Congress in December that they can’t guarantee that it will ever succeed.

"At present, it is too early to assess whether or not ignition can be achieved at the National Ignition Facility," wrote Thomas P. D'Agostino, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in a report requested by Congress last year.

Congress had given the facility until the end of 2012 to achieve its goal of ignition. The NNSA report proposed instead a three-year program to better understand why the actual implosion does not agree with scientific models. And three years may not be enough. "The three-year plan culminates in a comprehensive review at the end of FY 2015. At that time, NNSA will have an assessment of the likelihood and schedule for achieving ignition," the report said.

Moses told FoxNews.com funding is lower than hoped for, but still sufficient to operate.

“We’re coming into the beginning of the fiscal year and we think we have a pretty good picture of where the funding is,” he said. That the latest laser blast more effectively matches models helps the facility to meet its other key goal: nuclear weapon stewardship. Moses said the test informs basic understanding of nuclear energy, weapons science and efficacy, and basic understanding of how the cosmos works.

“This represents an important advance in establishing a self-sustaining burning target, the next critical step on the path to fusion ignition on NIF.”

Laser gatling gun a real blast

Breakthrough Laser Could Revolutionize Navy's Weaponry

Foxnews.com - The Navy has passed a major milestone in its quest to build an incredibly powerful new anti-aircraft gun.

Scientists with the Navy's Office of Naval Research have demonstrated a prototype system capable of producing from thin air the electrons needed to generate ultrapowerful, "megawatt-class" laser beams for the agency's next-generation system.

"The injector performed as we predicted all along," said Dinh Nguyen, senior project leader for the Free Electron Laser (FEL) program at the Los Alamos National Lab, N.M. "But until now, we didn't have the evidence to support our models. We were so happy to see our design, fabrication and testing efforts finally come to fruition."

He said the group is hoping to set a world record with the futuristic new weapon -- which could be the Holy Grail of military lasers.

FEL technology generates powerful laser beams by passing a stream of electrons -- those tiny, charged particles of matter -- through magnetic fields. Using electrons means avoiding the hassle of chemical fuels that are required for ordinary gas lasers, and bypassing the heating issue of electronic lasers.

FEL lasers can also be calibrated more specifically for anti-aircraft purposes, the Navy said, to adjust for precipitation, cloud cover, or humidity.

Quentin Saulter, FEL program manager for the Navy's research arm, said the implications of the FEL's progress are monumental. "This is a major leap forward for the program and for FEL technology throughout the Navy," Saulter said. "The fact that the team is nine months ahead of schedule provides us plenty of time to reach our goals by the end of 2011."

The research team hopes to have a full-power prototype by 2018, which would have the ability to instantly blast targets in the sky.

Navy ships have become vulnerable in modern times to supersonic missiles because of their slower defense systems, the agency worries. "The FEL is expected to provide future U.S. Naval forces with a near-instantaneous laser ship defense in any maritime environment throughout the world,” Saulter said.

Moreover, because future ships may very well use a form of electronic propulsion, there would be a readily available supply of electrons to power the raygun.

Originally invented by John Madey in 1976 at Stanford University, the project was picked up and pursued by the ONR in the 1980s -- and may finally become a reality.

US Air Force Successfully Tests Advanced Tactical Laser From a C-130 Plane

According to Boeing, the U.S. Air Force tested an oxygen-iodine laser with a 9 mile range in the New Mexico desert, calling the trial run a success.

USA Today says that the Advanced Tactical Laser was carried aboard a C-130 plane. Though the power level produced during the test wasn't revealed, these lasers, Global Security says the Advanced Tactical Laser can produce between 100-300 kW of lethal or non-lethal power (in theory).

The Advanced Tactical Laser is said to improve accuracy of military attacks with less collateral damage, something the U.S. Military has drawn criticism for as of late. But you know that secretly, General Gates is even more excited by the idea of getting some pew pew action in real life.

Scientists Use Laser Beams and Engineered Algae Viruses to Control Your Mind

That's right: Scientists will achieve mind control. By shining laser beams. Directly at cells in your brain. Which have been intentionally infected. By a blue-light sensitive virus. That they made in a lab. From algae.

According to Wired, you can really do some fancy stuff inside the mind by injecting an engineered virus into cells then shining a blue laser beam at them. The point is to pinpoint neurons that aren't doing what they should, and using this very pinpointy process to kick start them without playing havoc on the rest of the brain.

To what end? We're not at Cybermen just yet, but one of the proposed uses is actually prosthesis controlled by optics instead of electrodes as they are now. If this isn't at all scaring you yet, check this bit of Wired's story out:

Crucial to the technique is that the virus is only injected into a very small part of the brain, and only a certain class of neurons, once infected, actually turn the channel on.

Or what? Please tell us, or what?

Turns out, it's... Or else the treatment would resemble the kind of clumsier brain teasers, like drugs and electrodes. MIT neuroscientists Ed Boyden and Xue Han have already done it with primates, which, as everyone but Mike Huckabee knows, are close relatives to the human. Prior to that, fish, flies and rodents were all lasered up, with successful mind-control results. We are so happy we live in the present day, and not some quaint, almost cute past where all we had to worry about were influenza viruses and low-flying aeroplanes.

Boeing Laser Avenger Shoots Down Incoming Enemy for the First Time

Boeing has shot down an incoming unmanned aerial vehicle using their new Laser Avenger system, which you can see in the picture. According to Boeing's VP for Directed Energy Systems, this is crucial:

Small UAVs armed with explosives or equipped with surveillance sensors are a growing threat on the battlefield. Laser Avenger, unlike a conventional weapon, can fire its laser beam without creating missile exhaust or gun flashes that would reveal its position. As a result, Laser Avenger can neutralize these UAV threats while keeping our troops safe.

The Laser Avenger is mounted on the kinetic-based Avenger air defense system. However, no kinetic weapons were used in taking down the UAV. Tested at the White Sands Missile Range— a 3,200-square-mile rocket range in New Mexico, the largest military installation in the US—the Laser Avenger tracked three UAVs flying "against a complex background of mountains and desert", shooting down one of the UAVs.

The test success comes after the company doubled the laser power and added acquisition and tracking capabilities to the original design. Star Wars, here we go.

Boeing Airborne Laser Weapon Fires for the First Time

Boeing and the US Air Force keep advancing in their airborne high-energy laser weapon, the modified 747-400F that is designed to shoot down missiles as they fly to their targets. Last week they fired the entire laser system for the first time ever at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.

While the laser has been tested before, this was the first time they actually operated the whole thing as if they were shooting down a real target. This test fired the laser from the back-mounted generator thought the beam control system, exiting the aircraft through the nose-mounted turret and hitting a simulated ballistic missile target.

The next test—to be executed next year—will be firing and shooting down a real airborne ballistic missile.

Firestrike: World's First Solid-State Battlefield Laser Now Available

Get ready for some real pew pew, because Northrop Grumman has just announced that the first ever high-energy, solid-state lethal laser for actual war applications is now available for ordering. This means that you can pay now a few millions and get yours for Xmas. The new Firestrike units offer 15 kilowatts of power, but can be combined to offer 100 kilowatts of technological terror, capable of actually destroying the enemy. According to the company, this new laser "changes the game" of military engagement.

This is a big leap in laser weapons because, until now, the only effective way to get laser weapons to work with enough lethal power was using chemicals. These were extremely heavy and the whole firing process extremely hazardous. The solid-state laser in Firestrike is hard and very easy to manage, as it only requires electricity and has no by-products. It's also very rugged, according to Northrop's beam-cannon chief Dan Wildt.

Move Over Star Wars, Tomorrow's Tactical Lasers Will Be More Napalm Than Pew Pew

We've been kind of laser crazy here lately, and with good reason: Deployable solid state lasers could be landing in military hands as early as 2009. We simply wish to be at the forefront of the pew pew revolution, with the hope that any burning sensation our writers feel in the near future is the result of an unforgettable night out, not a disgruntled weapons grade laser system operator. But that last little diatribe brings up a good point, specifically in regards to what, exactly, laser warfare is going to look like. Sci-fi tends to glamorize laser weapons (pew pew, you're dead), when in reality the experts say getting "shot" with will probably feel more like napalm (*sizzle sizzle*, protracted death).

Wired's Danger room notes that the U.S. Air Force has effectively shifted away from the instant death scenario as of late, and focuses instead on how long it will take to cook a human with a laser (allegedly, everything is still top secret).

[F]rom what we know, the Air Force considers laser effects on eyes and skin, for the most part. Skin damage is very much easier to achieve than penetration; simply raising skin temperature to (say) 80C/ 180 f to a depth of a couple of millimeters will cause serious blistering (second-third degree burns). If 40% of the body is burned in this way, then the target will be disabled and may die.

[...] So instead of "zap-and-you're-dead" in normal science fiction style, with a hundred kilowatt laser, it's more a matter of spraying the target all over to ensure they're done. The description of the ATL as a "long range blow torch" is probably quite accurate.

I suppose it's fitting that a new slogan for tomorrow's battlefields came from a Colonel: Original recipe, or extra crispy?

Northrop Grumman Death Star Lasers Are Weapons-Grade, Could Be Out in 2008

Wired's Danger Room blog is spot on in comparing Northrop Grumman's upcoming solid state laser system to the Death Star. Promised to arrive before the end of 2008, and far earlier than Boeing's 25kW laser, it's supposed to have 100 kilowatts of power (SERIOUS pew pew action) and make use of multiple, less powerful lasers to form one giant one (see also: Voltron).

Northrop Grumman calls the individual components "laser chains," and say they've managed to successfully link two of them together (out of eight). Moreover, they have them running at peak power (30kW) for 5 minutes continuously and 40 minutes non continuously. Wired writes that a laser of this caliber should be able to knock mortars and rockets out of the sky.

Once thought to be significantly less powerful, electric lasers have progressed to the point that they're close to being a suitable chemical laser alternative. Not only that, they're also much safer in real world scenarios, evil villains notwithstanding. With Northrop Grumman assuring the Pentagon these will be ready by the end of the year.