Boeing has taken the first step in making the laser gunship a reality by installing the weapon on a C-130H.
Boeing completed the laser installation Dec. 4 at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. The laser, including its major subsystem, a 12,000-pound integrated laser module, was moved into place aboard the aircraft and aligned with the previously-installed beam control system, which will direct the laser beam to its target.
With the laser installed, Boeing is set to conduct a series of tests leading up to a demonstration in 2008 in which the program will fire the laser in-flight at mission-representative ground targets to demonstrate the military utility of high-energy lasers. The test team will fire the laser through a rotating turret that extends through the aircraft's belly.
ATL, which Boeing is developing for the U.S. Department of Defense, will destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations.
Link: defensetech
Boeing completed the laser installation Dec. 4 at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. The laser, including its major subsystem, a 12,000-pound integrated laser module, was moved into place aboard the aircraft and aligned with the previously-installed beam control system, which will direct the laser beam to its target.
With the laser installed, Boeing is set to conduct a series of tests leading up to a demonstration in 2008 in which the program will fire the laser in-flight at mission-representative ground targets to demonstrate the military utility of high-energy lasers. The test team will fire the laser through a rotating turret that extends through the aircraft's belly.
ATL, which Boeing is developing for the U.S. Department of Defense, will destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations.
Link: defensetech
Makes me think that the American military have had these devices a while ago already.
Very Unlikely (i.e. impossible). The Panama incident happened in 1989, there's no way ANYONE had portable lasers with that type of power.
Even with todays technology, the laser weighs in at over 12000 pounds (hence the need for a big airplane instead of using sharks).
If the Powers That Be would spend a tenth of what they spent developing this horror, we'd kick poverty, global climate change and falling education standards totally.
Never.
Fucking.
Happen.
btw munky; the "Powers That Be" have been spending money like drunken sailors on poverty and education for the last 40-plus years, and haven't made a dent in either problem. What makes you think throwing more money at it is going to make a difference?
Too bad we can't teach anyone how to fish, farm or get along with their neighbors...