Navy's Free-Electron Laser (AKA Deathray)

VirusType2

VirusType2

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Following on the heels of a railgun record, the Navy makes a breakthrough with its super laser. Development continues on what will be the latest way to shoot down missiles and sink enemy ships.

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"Currently, the free-electron laser project produces the most-powerful beam in the world, able to cut through 20 feet of steel per second. If it gets up to its ultimate goal, of generating a megawatt’s worth of laser power, it’ll be able to burn through 2,000 feet of steel per second. "

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/unexpectedly-navys-superlaser-blasts-away-a-record/

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The battleships of the future will be equipped with megawatt-class free electron lasers.
 
VirusType2 said:
Development continues on what will be the latest way to shoot down missiles and sink enemy ships.
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We actually did some minor work at JLAB's free electron laser so I did a bit of reading on it. And I call bullshit. This might pave the road for lasers that can do this far off in the distant future, but any such laser will not be the JLAB one.

Not to mention how huge these things are. The JLAB one mentioned in this article is a fixed structure siting on hudnreds of acres of land producing a deadly amount of radiation and requiring hundreds of people (and hundreds of millions of dollars each year) to operate. With that they only acheived 100kW so far. And our military is trying to pretend we can fit a similar one capable of producing 10 times as much power on a ****ing airplane in the very near future. Yeah, sounds very rational.
 
Yeah, there is a lot of work to be done if they plan to shrink the size down...
seven-eighths-of-a-mile long — is way too big. Boeing has a contract to build an initial workable prototype by 2012, but by 2015 the racetrack has to be much, much smaller: 50 feet by 20 feet by 10 feet.
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But it's not going on airplanes! It's going on battleships.

Since it can burn through 200 feet of steel in a second, (not to mention the projected 2,000 feet), that means it should be able to shoot down an incoming missile in a small fraction of a second, and then move on to the next target. That's if anyone besides me was wondering why it would ever need to be so powerful.

Navy ships have become vulnerable in modern times to supersonic missiles because of their slower defense systems, the agency worries. "The FEL is expected to provide future U.S. Naval forces with a near-instantaneous laser ship defense in any maritime environment throughout the world,” Saulter said.

Moreover, because future ships may very well use a form of electronic propulsion, there would be a readily available supply of electrons to power the raygun.
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http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/20/raygun-breakthrough-revolutionize-naval-power/
 
I really don't buy that. These things are not only huge they produce a shit load of radiation. The free electron laser isn't a new concept, it was developed in the 1970s. And boeing is suddenly going to figure out by 2015 what thousands of physicists couldn't for decades?
 
2,000 feet of steel per SECOND?!?!?!? I'm no scientist but they might want to check those numbers.

Sounds like they made a big breakthrough, but there is a huge difference between making a laser powerful enough to do what they want and making is small enough to be practical.


Let me use a semi-appropriate analogy. The first firearms were heavy handheld cannons, and they were giant and cumbersome for centuries after that. It has only been in the last 150 years or so that firearm technology has rendered lightweight practical weapons.

How long have lasers been around?

Granted, I think our progress on lasers will be much faster, but its a long way from a iron cannon to a polymer handgun.
 
How many feet of solid earth and stone per second? I want them to cut a mountain down to size.
 
No Limit said:
These things are not only huge they produce a shit load of radiation.
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I'm sure they could eventually miniaturise it to a practical size, however the radiation is a serious problem, contributing to make the thing all the more cumbersome with all the radiation shielding it would require.

I've heard about these lasers many times before, but I had no idea they produced harmfull radiation.
 
Meh, I've never liked the idea of energy/beam weapons. Even in games I preferred the old-school nuclear missiles. Because nothing beats rockets.
 
Anyone else immediately think "We're that much closer to realizing Freespace in real life - Huzzah for Beam Cannons!"?
 
lord_raken said:
2,000 feet of steel per SECOND?!?!?!? I'm no scientist but they might want to check those numbers.
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Derp derp herpa merp


lord_raken said:
Let me use a semi-appropriate analogy. The first firearms were heavy handheld cannons, and they were giant and cumbersome for centuries after that. It has only been in the last 150 years or so that firearm technology has rendered lightweight practical weapons.
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Well over 350 years...
 
I don't have a problem with this laser, it is awesome and should be funded as it has practical uses for all sorts of research. What I have a problem with the navy wasting their money trying to militarize this. This being capable of being a military weapon is a very long time off, probably not even gonna happen in our life time. Yet here they are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars in to it.
 
No Limit said:
I don't have a problem with this laser, it is awesome and should be funded as it has practical uses for all sorts of research. What I have a problem with the navy wasting their money trying to militarize this. This being capable of being a military weapon is a very long time off, probably not even gonna happen in our life time. Yet here they are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars in to it.
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Uh.. but how are you going to get there when you don't first dump money into it? And whatever improvements in laser technology that extra money yields will also find its way into civilian tech at some point.
 
Why do we need to kill people so efficiently?
 
PvtRyan said:
Uh.. but how are you going to get there when you don't first dump money into it? And whatever improvements in laser technology that extra money yields will also find its way into civilian tech at some point.
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If the navy doesn't try to militarize this that doesn't mean that his won't get funding. Like I said, many other uses for it. And as they work on it the thing will get smaller and more efficient as time goes on. But before it's anywhere at the point to where it can be placed on a ship and shoot missiles out of the sky is many decades, if not a couple centuries, away.

They could take the money and use it for something much more useful.
 
You see the millitary is working on a hand held prototype laser cannon, it can shoot short quick beams or it can charge up and let loose a super beam, the problem is if the beam is charged to long the operator may infact disintigrate, the other downside is that they need to use uranium to operate it, about 100 quarts of it. They are working on this weapon in their science base in either New Mexico or Arizoa in the desert somewhere.

They are also working on 2 other secret weapons:

One that looks somewhat like the ghostbuster's gun, which also runs on uranium

And one that has the ability to shoot portals that teleport enemies, and also has a secondary fire that can teleport the operator
 
Theres no such thing as a free electron laser. Theres always a catch. You probably gotta subscribe to their magazine or something to get your free electron laser.
 
Dead Phil said:
You see the millitary is working on a hand held prototype laser cannon, it can shoot short quick beams or it can charge up and let loose a super beam, the problem is if the beam is charged to long the operator may infact disintigrate, the other downside is that they need to use uranium to operate it, about 100 quarts of it. They are working on this weapon in their science base in either New Mexico or Arizoa in the desert somewhere.

They are also working on 2 other secret weapons:

One that looks somewhat like the ghostbuster's gun, which also runs on uranium

And one that has the ability to shoot portals that teleport enemies, and also has a secondary fire that can teleport the operator
Click to expand...

From here on out you shall be known as Karl Pilkington. I can't stop laughing.
 
No Limit said:
I don't have a problem with this laser, it is awesome and should be funded as it has practical uses for all sorts of research. What I have a problem with the navy wasting their money trying to militarize this. This being capable of being a military weapon is a very long time off, probably not even gonna happen in our life time. Yet here they are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars in to it.
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You remind me of the people who want to shut down NASA because they aren't doing anything with immediate every day satisfaction. Our future in space takes ****ing time and lots of money!
 
Define immediate? Nasa gives us something exicting every few years. We won't see what is suggested here in our life time. And I keep repeating, I don't think they should shut down the project. I just dont think they should try to weaponize it.
 
Well, it's true they are trying to secure funding, but read this:

“With every single milestone, [the naysayers] have been proven wrong,” said Dr. George R. Neil, associate director of the FEL program at Jefferson Lab. Neil pointed to a bottle of champagne in the control room -- that one was for when they met the 10 kW threshold four years ago, nearly a decade after the Navy began funding the development of the FEL accelerator at the Newport News facility.


The Navy must not only figure out a way to harness the electron beam into a light ray, but to shrink the accelerator down to size so that it would fit neatly on a Navy destroyer.

But for now, researchers take each milestone as proof they are moving in the right direction. The Navy has asked for $60 million for its directed energy budget for 2012. As for Friday’s 500 kV breakthrough, they say it’s a big one.
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well that isn't a common thing with technology today,

we are making future generator that will be able to put out 10 time the energy put in
 
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