Boeing's Got High Power, Solid State Laser That Burns Almost Anything

You may know Boeing as the commercial airplane maker - but the company also manufactures a lot of defence equipments & weapons. Boeing's Directed Energy Systems Division has come up with a solid state laser system likely to be used by the United States military to destroy almost anything - from IEDs to rockets to drones. Michael Rinn, VP of the division and program director says that the team working on the project has demonstrated that they have the necessary power & beam quality along with desired efficiency to deliver the system to the actual battlefield.

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Boeing's engineers demonstrated the 'thin disk laser system' - a combo of high-power industrial lasers that generate one concentrated, high energy beam with immense destructive powers. The system's output reached over 30kW, about 30% more than required. The system required about 90kW of electric energy to produce the output. The demonstration was a part of Department Of Defense's Robust Electric Laser Initiative (RELI) initiative.

Rinn said that the chemical lasers aren't very suitable for the battlefields. They need hard-to-handle chemicals and often require cumbersome operational procedures for the operators. On the other hand, the solid state laser systems are closed-loop and are all-electric. This makes these laser weapons easy to move in the battlefield and also easier to operate. The team seeks government's funding to take the the technology forward.

Via: #-Link-Snipped-#

Replies

  • Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    All these technical advancement should be concentrated over the development of human community But we debate on the boon and bane of technology and then we forget about it.Is it right to use this monster on Human beings.
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    The US economy is mostly a 'war economy'. There are several very big corporations that make weapons and sell them to other countries for profits. Rolls Royce, for example makes jet engines for war planes. They must keep on developing and selling weapons to sustain their economy. Plus, a war fought on non-US land benefits the country.

    That however, better be discussed elsewhere & certainly not in this thread.

    What's interesting is that they're developing the non-chemcial, closed loop laser systems. I wonder how do they carry the power backups. That truck, pictured above seems to be 80% battery and 20% Laser machinery.
  • Nayan Goenka
    Nayan Goenka
    This monster when unleashed on the battlefield can destroy enemy tanks. That is their sole purpose I guess. Apart from that, use of lasers can allow them to attack straight in line of sight up to extremely far distances. It might be developed keeping in mind the desert war regions where Battlefield is actually over hundreds of hectors. This can be helpful in reducing bombarding load over air-force. Also this weapon can be enhanced to work as anti-missile too.
  • mani auto
    mani auto
    very nice.. but need more like laser guns.we can able use its in space.bcos ordinary system is not cable to defense.i like this technology development.but in earth its powerful weapon to destroy things.
    For security puprose we can use it against missiles and rocket launchers but not on human
  • prahu mac
    prahu mac
    i think U.S is far ahead of us when it comes to technological innovations!!!
  • Jeffrey Arulraj
    Jeffrey Arulraj
    prahumac
    i think U.S is far ahead of us when it comes to technological innovations!!!
    Well how many Indian Heads slogged in making this machine do you wanna make a blind guess
  • Nayan Goenka
    Nayan Goenka
    Conqueror
    Well how many Indian Heads slogged in making this machine do you wanna make a blind guess
    I can take a wild guess. 40% minimum. This is definitely a brainchild of Indian Engineers. 😛
  • Umesh Kumar Rai
    Umesh Kumar Rai
    US already has this kind of weapon called Airborne Laser which can destroy any missiles attack. But this can be used for ground attack as well, US is piling up different types of destructive weapons.
  • Nayan Goenka
    Nayan Goenka
    Umesh Kumar Rai
    US already has this kind of weapon called Airborne Laser which can destroy any missiles attack. But this can be used for ground attack as well, US is piling up different types of destructive weapons.
    As it is already stated above. US is a war-economy. They sell every type of weapon man can ever make. They would weaponise a coffee maker if they could.

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