[extropy-chat] Cool stuff for Newtonmas

[Mike Lorrey]

The issue is that while DoD has built megawatt lasers, they are
typically not in any way transportable. The THEL and the ABL are the
first deployable laser systems, but they are still huge, with the first
needing two trailers and the other a 747. While the THEL is 100kw, and
is close to deployability, it still requires quite a bit to set up and
can only defend one location and a fixed area around it. The 747 ABL is
mobile, but is itself a vulnerable target and is intended for strategic
anti-missile use. 

Making a truly mobile version at 25-50kw capable of unit-level defense
against tactical weapons is what is really needed to defend against
mortars, katyusha type rockets, artillery, etc.. Installed on a
fighting vehicle capable of firing in motion, while moving with its
unit, is what is really needed. Then we just need IED/mine sniffer
bots.

--- spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:

> The way this was written in the popular press is a little
> confusing.  See below:
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:  Mike Lorrey
>  Subject: [extropy-chat] Cool stuff for Newtonmas
> 
>
http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_Cool121604,,00.html?
> ESRC=dod.nl
> 
> COOL TECH THIS WEEK: 
> Ray Gun Plans, Robotic Fish, Powered Exoskeleton Suits 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>   
>   A step closer to working ray guns, RoboPike and RoboTuna, and
> Starship Troopers for real -- keep up with the cutting-edge military
> tech news from the past week. 
>  
> By Noah Shachtman and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, DefenseTech.org
> 
> Industry Bigs Team Up on Ray Guns
> 
> ... The modified 747
> Airborne Laser, after a seemingly-endless slumber, is beginning to
> make
> progress...
> 
> 
> Im not sure what that comment means. 
> 
> 
> 
> ...More importantly, electric-powered lasers are finally starting to
> build
> up the power they need to work as weapons. In a few months,
> researchers
> at the Lawrence Livermore national lab and elsewhere plan to test a
> 25
> kilowatt solid-state laser...
> 
> 
> Starting to build up the power to work as weapons?  Were they joking?
> The power of the laser is not the recent breakthru, but rather its
> the
> mirror control needed to concentrate that power at some intermediate
> distance.  Check out the airborne laser mirror control.
> 
> 
> ...If those trials work out as expected, the
> Defense Department will then start handing out grants for a laser
> with
> a hundred kilowatts of power -- that's widely-considered the
> threshold
> for ray gun action to begin...
> 
> 
> Hmmm, again this comment.  Its all about concentrating the power, 
> not about seeing how much power you can make.  All you need to
> disable
> a rocket is to burn a hole in it.  No need to actually blast it to
> shards, which would endanger the local enemy troops unnecessarily.
> Without the rockets and advanced weaponry, they are harmless as
> kittens anyway, so there is no need to slay or injure them.
> 
> 
> 
> ... One step forward, one step back. The Airborne Laser's
> first flight test in two years was cut short this week, after some
> "anomalous instrumentation readings." Space News says a cabin
> pressure
> problem was to blame...
> 
> 
> 
> This comment was made many places, but most of the time they
> were not careful to explain that it was not a problem with
> the laser itself.  The flight crew cabin pressure is maintained 
> higher than the area where the laser is carried in case of a leak
> of the highly toxic materials carried in the laser.  With
> higher pressure in the cabin, the fumes would not get to
> the flight crew.  Last I heard, it was a faulty pressure
> gage, not an actual failure of the pressure differential 
> equipment.
>  
> 
> 
> 
> Robo-Crappie, Anyone?
> 
> ...A Japanese toy company has a whole line
> of fish, jellyfish, turtles and an ammonite. An ammonite?...
> 
> 
> If you purchase one of these toy ammonites, you may 
> not take it to church, for the Book of Deuteronomy 
> chapter 23 verse 3 saith:
> 
> "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the 
> congregation of the lord, even to their tenth 
> generation shall they not enter into the congregation 
> of the lord forever...
> 
> Well which is it, tenth generation, or forever?  I
> think the latter, for Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 1 saith:
> 
> "...the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into
> the congregation of god forever..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Real-Life Exoskeletons Emerge
> 
> ... article in tomorrow's New York Times Magazine,
> on real-life exoskeletons...
> 
> 
> Cool, I want one.  I can fool with that in the parking
> lot outside the church they wont let me enter because of
> my ammonite.
> 
> spike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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