GI Joe's lasers a few decades too soon?

[Sonneilon]

Sure, lasers have been around for over 20 years but in terms of sci-fi-style action of people shooting each other, that's a different matter. Anyway, check this out if you're in the mood. Boeing seems to be seeing YO JOE in their own special way...



http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/181905.asp

Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser aircraft damaged a moving ground vehicle in a Sept. 19 Air Force test, the company announced Tuesday.

"In this test, a directed energy weapon successfully demonstrated direct attack on a moving target," Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Missile Defense Systems' Directed Energy Systems unit, said in a news release. "ATL has now precisely targeted and engaged both stationary and moving targets, demonstrating the transformational versatility of this speed-of-light, ultra-precision engagement capability that will dramatically reduce collateral damage."

During the test, the C-130H aircraft took off from Kirtland Air Force Base, near Albuquerque, N.M., and fired a high-power chemical laser over White Sands Missile Range, hitting the unoccupied, remotely controlled vehicle and putting a hole in a fender. The system damaged an unoccupied stationary vehicle Aug. 30, in its first air-to-ground, high-power laser engagement of a tactically representative target.

The idea ultimately is to destroy, damage or disable targets on the battlefield and in urban operations with little to no collateral damage.


http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/181905.asp

[ender098]

The biggest problem with energy weapons is power consumption. We all know you can shoot a "spotter" beam 6-7 miles with about 8 "D" cell batteries, but to get the heat and focus to damage flesh and metal, you're talking SERIOUS power output. that's why they have to use Chemical Lasers. It's like a big one shot battery. Eventually the technology will come when disruptive lasers will no longer be a thing of Sci-Fi movies.

The Navy is also working on a Rail Gun. Hopefully that will pan out!

[Rambo]

what is a RAIL GUN?

[Mobius_1]

[QUOTE=Rambo]what is a RAIL GUN?[/QUOTE]


you see this here 15 pound slug of (insert heavy metal used in ammo)?

Well let's slingshot it through a bunch of magnets to get it moving at ultra highspeed WITHOUT using gunpowder or explosives.

(think the Deus Ex Machina cannon from Transformers 2 that was fired on uber-bot)

[Sonneilon]

Or think the movie ERASER. Tho I believe they interchange EM gun and RAIL gun as the same thing.

[frk525]

The rail gun was also used heavily in the Metal Gear Solid franchise of video games. On the Metal Gear itself it was the main component in firing the nuclear warheads. It was also used in MGS2 and MGS4 as personal weapons, like in Eraser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_gun

[Otto the Otter]

Rail Gun? You have to look no furthur than G.I.*Joe:Valor vs. Venom. The weapon that Joe used to launch weather control pods, and that Cobra wants to use to launch their venom pods is a rail gun.

It's funny you mention lasers being used by G.I.*Joe. I had not seen a single episode of the cartoon from when the series ended in 86 (or there abouts). I bought the entire series on VHS in 2004, and watched them all over again. In that 18 year hiatus, I always remeber the red and blue flashes from the weapons as tracer rounds. (Within that 18 year period I had joined the Marines, so my knowlege of weapons greatly improved) I never knew they were lasers until I watched the series over again. I just thought the animators were lazy and gave eveybody Snow Job's rifle when I was a kid.

[zedhatch]

Actually I wouldn't be surprized if a few ships already had rail guns just like in TF2, Remember things are not revealed quickly by the government.

The original stealth bomber was only revealed cause so many people parked outside of military airfields got pics of it, the government wanted to beat the private press to the reveal. but the plan had been around for years before that. I remember Johnny carson makeing the joke that the only reason no one ever saw it for years was because they were flying around on thursdays at 8 pm (when Cosby was on).

Point is there are tons of classified stuff that we don't know about and plenty of times in the past the government has said they have something "in development" when it is actually in use (although not on a wide level).

[troopsofdoom]

[QUOTE=zedhatch]The original stealth bomber was only revealed cause so many people parked outside of military airfields got pics of it, the government wanted to beat the private press to the reveal. but the plan had been around for years before that. I remember Johnny carson makeing the joke that the only reason no one ever saw it for years was because they were flying around on thursdays at 8 pm (when Cosby was on).[/QUOTE]
After the Stealth planes were revealed, it was funny to look back at all the triangle-shaped UFO sightings. Strange how people jumped to the conclusion they were aliens and not simply new planes. :rolleyes: