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Zap!: New Airborne Military Laser Melts Through Truck



Oct 2, 2009 15 Comments ›› Erik Wong

Pop Sci:

In a recent test at the White Sands Missile Range, a specially equipped C-130 plane fried a parked truck with a powerful laser. And while we still haven’t seen evidence of the laser “defeating” a ground target, as Boeing puts it, a video of it scorching a direct hit on the hood of a truck is still pretty amazing.

As you can see, the laser beam burns right through the truck’s hood, and then through the engine, “defeating” the vehicle. Called the “Advanced Tactical Laser” (ATL), this is the first time the megawatt-powered chemical laser has been used to engage a target in a combat simulation situation.

Now, to be fair, the car was parked by itself in the middle of the desert. So unless we’ve got a clean shot at Al-Qaeda’s parking lot, the beam isn’t ready for prime time. Plus, last year the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board said that “the Advanced Tactical Laser testbed has no operational utility.”

Despite those reservations, Boeing is still confident that the laser will soon provide a weapon that can take out a target with little or no collateral damage.


  • MinneSoCold

    Planes with fricken laser beams on them!

    Nice! :twisted:

  • Bobby E

    See? It could be a bloodless coup … for our side. After that, just who could combat the finest, best-trained military in the world? And, with what? Rocks, bottles, and .38 Specials? The only O followers that have any weapons are ‘bangers and drug dealers. Not to mention the citizenry would be in flank and rear positions.

    • http://logistory.blogspot.com/ Noway2no

      We can only dream. I pray for a bloodless restoration of our republic but doubt it will happen.

    • Bobby E

      Yes, sir. I’m afraid you are right. However, you spoke eloguently of pragmatism in another post and as I read it the thought that came to my mind was that in this situation expediency will override pragmatism. At the risk of invoking ire, I’ll paraphrase something JFK said as it related to our putting a man on the moon, but can apply to this situation: we as Americans do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. This that he said in that effort defines the American spirit.

  • Citizen K

    Someone with very good sources inside the Pentagon wrote several months back that the Boeing developed laser is what knocked out the Iranian satellite that failed after reaching orbit. The sources (very high up) would only hint that this could have happened and did not actually say that it had.

    It may be much further along than is publicized.

    • Nikki

      IT always is that way … when things get big enough and good enough they can’t keep their contractors mouths shut, so they allow a leak such as this … :twisted: … and THAT’S HOT

    • Citizen K

      It was not the contractor who leaked. It was top Pentagon officials and my friend was an aide under Reagan.

  • Reloader449

    The idea that the laser only worked because the truck was “parked by itself in the middle of the desert” is laughable. The targeting systems for this weapon and for the Airborne Laser (747 ABL) are extremely capable and precise, built on the foundation of existing targeting capability. You know, the kind of targeting precision that allows putting a 2,000 bomb down this ventilation shaft instead of that one, both on the top of a selected Iraqi building, from 30,000 feet.

    They test and perfect the targeting and aiming systems before they ever think about engaging the laser weapon.

    Think lasers on airplanes is a pretty cool idea, but not really practical? Yeah, that’s what they said about converting an unguided rocket into a guided missile. Of course, that’ll never work, either …

    The laser on the C-130 is of a different type than the system on the 747 ABL, and it is not as powerful. By about 2 magnitudes, IIRC.

    Know anything about the F-35?

    Too small to carry a laser weapon, you say? Not powerful enough?

    The Short Take-off, Vertical Landing (STOVL) F-35B has a lift fan mounted right behind the cockpit. This fan is driven by a shaft coming out of the front of the engine. Wanna guess how much horsepower comes out of that shaft?

    27,000 HP.

    I say again, TWENTY-SEVEN THOUSAND FUCKING horsepower.

    The normal takeoff versions of the F-35, F-35A for the Air Force and F-35C for the Navy, don’t have the lift fan. They have a fuel tank there.

    Mounting a Laser, with its firing turret either on top of the aircraft, or on the bottom, has been studied for more than two years now. The laser would generate its own electrical current, powered by the driveshaft.

    • Reloader449

      Coincidentally, tremendous advances have been made recently on solid-state electronic lasers. This is as opposed to the conventional chemical lasers on the C-130 and the 747. All that the compact/no moving parts/no pumps/no chemical tanks Solid State laser needs is … electricity. And apparently it will be straightforward to build a very powerful laser weapon so small that it can fit into where the lift fan would be in the USMC F-35B STOVL Lightning II.

      The official view in China of any nation going up against the U.S. Military is this:

      “It is like throwing an egg against a rock.”

    • T-Bagg

      Reloader449,
      Last I knew, unless something changed, the AF and Navy versions of the F-35 filled the void left by the lift fan with a GAU-22/A.

    • Xavier

      “Now, to be fair, the car was parked by itself in the middle of the desert. So unless we’ve got a clean shot at Al-Qaeda’s parking lot, the beam isn’t ready for prime time. Plus, last year the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board said that “the Advanced Tactical Laser testbed has no operational utility.””

      Ya keep that in mind when the next war is won via holes burnt through the enemy soldiers heads by airborne laser systems.

      STFU & GTFO dipshit.

  • Minuteman01

    “Look Ma, Obama’s head is smoking!” :beer: :beer: :beer:

  • saepe expertus

    “And I beheld [a] Beast coming up out of the earth…and he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” Revelation 13: 11,13

    • steve m (yet Another Infidel!)

      post rapture…If you’re a beleiver, you won’t be here to see it. If you see it, it’s too late, you missed the boat. You’re in for a rough ride for those 7 years.

  • Moriah

    Owww! :shock: