Navy’s Superlaser Blasts Away a Record

[roo_ster]

...and burns through 20' of steel per second.

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

I'll take two, thanks.

BTW, the goal is a megawatt free electron laser than can burn through 20,000 feet of steel per second.

[roo_ster]

Bonus Navy weapon:

Mach 8 rail gun & video http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/video-navys-mach-8-railgun-obliterates-record/

If lasers & rail guns become ubiquitous in the Navy, the Navy ships will essentially just be floating generators.  I see a resurgence of nukes on board ships other than carriers and subs. 

[AJ Dual]

FEL's have been pretty much the holy grail of laser weapon design, they're pretty much all solid state, no chemicals or fuels, and have an indefinite runtime, as long as the power holds out.

And they're tunable, an AMAZING ability for a laser, from x-rays to microwaves. So you could tune the laser for ideal range in a variety of atmospheric conditions, or for maximum damage to the constituent materials of the target you're firing on.

[Monkeyleg]

And they're tunable, an AMAZING ability for a laser, from x-rays to microwaves.

So, the crew could use them for destroying enemy ships or making popcorn? That's getting the most bang for the taxpayer dollar.

[Brad Johnson]

What do you think a phase conjugate tracking system is for!

Brad

[Regolith]

BTW, the goal is a megawatt free electron laser than can burn through 20,000 feet of steel per second.

2,000 ft/s.


But still freaking awesome 

[MechAg94]

At 20,000 ft/sec wouldn't the vapor from the burning steel block the laser?

[AJ Dual]

At 20,000 ft/sec wouldn't the vapor from the burning steel block the laser?

Depends on what you tune it too. Steel vapor might be relatively transparent at certain wavelengths, and presumably it's a linear figure across the steel, not into it. So the cutting point will just keep on moving ahead of the vapor plume anyway.

What do you think a phase conjugate tracking system is for!

Brad

AND STOP PLAYING WITH YOURSELF!

[230RN]

A megawatt is only about 1340 hp.  Not really that much, considering the power in most ships' engines.

I believe the aircraft carrier Lexington powered much of the city of Tacoma for a month.

But boy, you put 1300 hp into a small spot, and you've really got somethin'.

I'm impressed with the tunability.  (What wavelength for pirate skiffs?)

Terry, 230RN

ETA REF (One of many):

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5113

[RoadKingLarry]

The awesomeness of what is public is impressive. I wonder what they still have under wraps?

[French G.]

You mean like the guy's name and license plate? I used to live about 5 miles down the street from Jefferson Lab and have little doubt I could find 2 out of 3 of them in under a week. The hispanic name may be muy problemo in Newport News. Very impressed by the tech, less so by the awesomeness of writing an article(for islamic whackajobs) on people we want to bump off before they build the weapon that will soon vaporize the 3rd world hellhole we call paradise.

[280plus]

Yes, lets give away all the info our enemies need to put a serious crunch on the program. Real good thinkin'. Unless, of course, they're decoys.

So here's what I see. They build this super generator ship with one of these FELs on board. They take it out into the harbor, fire it up to full power and it disappears into a green fog only to reappear a few minutes later with crewmembers imbedded in the steel and everybody going nuts.

 

[vaskidmark]

Stoopid guy with no tech smarts checking in with the obligatory dumb question.

We "know" you can't shoot down an airliner with a .50 cal because the plane moves too fast to aim and hit it, and if you could swing a .50 cal like a shotgun the odds of hitting domething that big with a single  something that (relatively) small are zilch.  Right?  That's what youze guys have been telling me and the public for years.

So how are you gonna hit that incoming missle?  Or are you all just hoping that with the uberfast burn-through rate it works like a light saber and will slice the missle as it (the missle) flys through the beam?

Huh?  Huh?  'Splain it to me.

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

Add RADAR and computer controlled targeting and the odds of hitting whatever the heck you want to hit goes up pretty good.

[kgbsquirrel]

Add RADAR and computer controlled targeting and the odds of hitting whatever the heck you want to hit goes up pretty good.

Ditto. Radar guidance and automated computerized fire control goes a long way. Here's a re-purposed Phalanx CIWS being used to shoot down mortar shells....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgpQBZF2sZQ

[280plus]

6000 rounds per minute no? A twidget buddy of mine likened it to sticking a steel rod out the end of the gun and swatting the target with it. In the old days it was done by the computer reducing the distance from POA/POI to target by half until there was a hit. Don't know how they do it today.

[geronimotwo]

Add RADAR and computer controlled targeting and the odds of hitting whatever the heck you want to hit goes up pretty good.

as well as light travels faster than lead.  so there would be no need to aim ahead of the missile.  now, if they could bounce this off sattelites........

[280plus]

Potential sales slogan or sig line:

FEL = Because light travels faster than lead

I'm not sure what to put between FEL and the rest so fill in your own favorite punctuation.

Oh, for those who don't know,  a twidget is (or was) a missile control guy, also known as a "fire control geek".   

[Hawkmoon]

...

BTW, the goal is a megawatt free electron laser than can burn through 20,000 feet of steel per second.

2,000 fps, unless you took this from a different article.

[geronimotwo]

Potential sales slogan or sig line:

FEL = Because light travels faster than lead

i'm looking into the copyrights, as we speak.

[HankB]

Stoopid guy with no tech smarts checking in with the obligatory dumb question.

We "know" you can't shoot down an airliner with a .50 cal because the plane moves too fast to aim and hit it, and if you could swing a .50 cal like a shotgun the odds of hitting domething that big with a single  something that (relatively) small are zilch.  Right?  That's what youze guys have been telling me and the public for years.

So how are you gonna hit that incoming missle?  Or are you all just hoping that with the uberfast burn-through rate it works like a light saber and will slice the missle as it (the missle) flys through the beam?

Huh?  Huh?  'Splain it to me.

The photons from the laser move something over 300,000 times faster than the slug from a .50 BMG, cutting down on the lead required. They also don't shed velocity like the .50 BMG projectile and are virtually unaffected by Earth's gravity, flattening the trajectory a bit. Dealing with atmospheric refraction and absorption are the major issues.

[vaskidmark]

OK, but how long will that beam stay in contact with the same spot?

I still don't see this thing slicing through a whole missle making two distinct parts that will then fall harmlessly to the ground.  At best I see a bunch of holes that might hit the missle's equivalent of a CNS, but moreso maybe not.

So the stoopid guy still needs this 'splained to him.

stay safe.

[kgbsquirrel]

OK, but how long will that beam stay in contact with the same spot?

I still don't see this thing slicing through a whole missle making two distinct parts that will then fall harmlessly to the ground.  At best I see a bunch of holes that might hit the missle's equivalent of a CNS, but moreso maybe not.

So the stoopid guy still needs this 'splained to him.

stay safe.

That's part of the reason they are trying to jack the power of the beam weapon up so high, that way you need to only sweep it across the target making contact for a fraction of a second, in order to transfer sufficient energy to pop it.

[vaskidmark]

OK.  Got it.  Not a light saber yet, but working its way to being one.

stay safe.

[HankB]

A relatively small hole in the heat shield caused by some ecologically-friendly insulating foam coming off the fuel tank caused a space shuttle to disintegrate on re-entry; you don't have to slice a missle in half to effectively destroy it, just a certain level of trauma to the outer skin will cause it to break up.