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You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads!

- “Dr. Evil” in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery 1997

While we may not be able to put lasers on the heads of sharks yet, thanks to Northrop Grumman, a laser weapon called FIRESTRIKE(TM) can now be put on tanks or other war-vehicles to be used on the battlefield.

Most of us have grown up being frequently exposed to the idea of laser weapons through science-fiction books, tv shows and movies. But this is REAL. This is NOW.

Look at the specs on this weapon:

FIRESTRIKE(tm) Laser Features

 Power              15kW laser
 Beam Quality       Nominally 1.5 times the diffraction limit
 Size               Laser head - 12" x 23" x 40" (width, depth, height)
                    Current source - 9" x 13" x 30"
 Runtime            Continuous, as long as power and coolant are
                    provided
 Instant Turn-on    Zero to full power in less than 1/2 second
 Safety             Remote operation, customer interlock access,
                    internal safety sensors
 Control            Common Command and Control (C2) systems and
                    Ethernet interfaces
 Low Power Setting  Provides nominally 100 watt alignment beam
 Weight             400 lbs per LRU
 Ruggedization      Hardened LRUs with compact SSL technology
                    engineered for mobility and field operations

Up to eight of these individual 15 kW units can be “stacked” to create a single 100kW weapon. Continuous discharge of the weapon is sustainable limited only by available electricity and coolant.

The press release was not very clear as to what that means in terms of destructive power but apparently the weapon doesn’t have to be reloaded and can function as long as an electrical generation source is functioning.

Imagine what this means in the big picture. The world is now on the cusp of transitioning from ballistics in the form of bullets, morters, missiles, etc to using LIGHT as a destructive weapon.

Does this make us more advanced or more civilized in any way? Or does this open the door to be more brutal and savage by reducing the requirement to produce ballistic ammunition and reload weapons for battle?

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Tags: battlefield, laser, military, Northrop Grumman, United States, weapon

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pm and is filed under General, Gizmos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.