Raytheon has finally developed the sci-fi weapon of all of our childhoods’. It’s a real laser that really works to blow aircraft and missiles right out of the skies. It’s like Star Wars without the three terrible prequels and incest.
They unveiled this death ray (ironically) at a British airshow. It’s called the Laser Close-In Weapon System, and it fires a 50 kilowatt beam that can disable “aircraft, mortars, rockets, and small surface ships, and has already been tested against unmanned aerial vehicles.” Also, it is effective against supervillains.
The unit is appropriately (and disturbingly casually) nicknamed R2-D2 for its dome-shaped unit, and is part of the U.S. Navy’s Phalanx – the unit designed for anti-missile defense. The laser’s one downfall is that, in inclement conditions, the laser’s power is absorbed by fog and clouds rendering it less effective and with a shorter range. To aid in these conditions, though, the Phalanx has a radar-linked Gatling gun as a last line of defense. Check out the laser in action below. It’s not exactly like the opening scene of Star Wars, but it’s not far off.
COMMENTS
July 24, 2010 6:40 pm
showbags
Its not a bloody laser… it uses a sacrificial 20mm aluminium casing as a delivery device during loading and firing to fire a projectile roughly 7.62mm but at a lot or rounds per minute… sorry guys no laser! Just lots of lead and a huge fart! I know this because I used to maintain and run one when I was in the navy…
July 22, 2010 8:05 am
LordJLAW
um, that is not a laser, that is a gatling gun to shoot missles and low flying aircraft from getting too close to a sea vessel or missles from getting too close to a Forward Operating Base ie: any FOB’s in Afghanistan or Iraq.