There's an interesting piece in Time magazineabout developments in laser weapons. As well as describing the usual anti-missile systems – like the famous multi-billion-dollar Airborne Laser- there's a smaller one I hadn't seen before. This sounds as though it might have some useful tactical applications:
…more down-to-earth military uses of the laser may be much closer at hand. TRW Systems in Redondo Beach, Calif., for instance, is working on a portable chemical laser (which produces a beam from the energy released in the reaction of two or more chemicals) that could be carried into battle by a unit of only three men. Aimed like a rifle, it would silently burn a fatal, quarter-inch-wide hole in the body of an enemy soldier up to five miles away. "Once you've got him in your sights," says a TRW engineer, "you've got him. There are no misses."
TRW Inc have a strong historyin the military laser field. But if you're wondering just how much 'closer at hand' this particular weapon is, then you're liable to be disappointed. Because that Time article is dated Monday, Sep. 04, 1972. That's how long these things have been promised, and thirty-five years on I don't think they're about to come up with the goods.
Chemical lasers have not done too well int he last few decades. While we hear a lot of talk about them, and vast amounts of money are poured into the Airborne Laser, Tactical High-Eenergy Laser and the Advanced Tactical Laser, they have been very slow to deliver. Having to carry around quantities of toxic, corrosive chemicals was always going to be a problem – the exhaust from a chemical laser rifle is probably more dangerous than the beam. Given this track record, I think we're entitled to be a bit skeptical when we hear about a new laser weapon just around the corner.
Don't write off laser weapons altogether. Solid-state laserswhich just require a supply of electricity go from strength to strength. Employing a more sophisticated approach than burning a hole through the target means that short-pulse weapons can do serious damage using much less energy. But it still might be a year or two before they get into the field…
ALSO:
* Second Life for Laser Defense?
* Ray Gun "Holy Grail" Aims for Battlefield Strength
* Monster Truck Gets a Laser
* Military Prepping for a Ray Gun War
*Laser Death Star
* Laser Weapons Closing in on Reality
* Real-Life Laser Rifle: Army Goal
* Lasers Stop Snipers Before They Fire
* Flipper Fires Lasers in Air Force Brief
* Laser Relays Live!
* Vice vs. the Flying Lightsaber
* Laser Jet Over Oklahoma
* Congress Slashes Flying Lightsaber
