Yansuf Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 The following news item went up today on: http://www.strategypage.com Ray Gun Factory Opens January 26, 2007: It had to happen eventually. The American Northrop Grumman Corporation has just opened the first ray-gun factory. Officially, the plant will build high-energy, solid-state lasers and figure out how to install them in military vehicles. The first weapon being produced is the JHPSSL (Joint High-Power Solid State Laser), a 100 kW solid-state laser. The JHPSSL is to be mounted on armored vehicles and in aircraft. JHPSSL is basically an anti-aircraft and anti-missile system. It has already demonstrated that it can destroy artillery and mortar shells, as well as rockets and cruise missiles. Israel is interested in using JHPSSL as part of its rocket defense system. Ray guns have long been a staple of science fiction, and when the first lasers appeared in the 1950s, science fiction writers just assumed that many of their ray guns were "lasers." All this is not quite science fiction any more, mainly because it will take another decade or so before you have a hand held laser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Re: Ray Guns The following news item went up today on: http://www.strategypage.com All this is not quite science fiction any more, mainly because it will take another decade or so before you have a hand held laser. Heck yeah! I'm getting in line early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Ray Guns Nice find! Repped. I need to link this thread to my Future Tech thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajackson Posted January 31, 2007 Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: Ray Guns Would help if there were a link to the article, not to the front page of stratpage. As for the JHPSSL, it's hard to tell how viable this research is, since we can't really tell how big and power-hungry the device is. 100 kW is way less power than THEL, but THEL is the size of a couple of tractor-trailers. If you can fit the 100 kW laser, with power supply, in a HMMWV (which is what the SSHCL people were shooting for) it's nifty. The bigger the system is, the less interesting it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted January 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: Ray Guns Would help if there were a link to the article, not to the front page of stratpage. I am not sure which article strategypage got their info from, but 2 are below: http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=113376&referrerid=7726 http://news.softpedia.com/news/First-Laser-Weapon-Factory-Opens-Up-In-The-U-S-44837.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: Ray Guns Israel is interested in using JHPSSL as part of its rocket defense system. Not to mention IDF war camels with freaking lasers on their heads! An Israeli company has been involved with the development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 Re: Ray Guns More important to the ray gun is the Jet Pack. I read an article in this month's Discover titled "Dude, where's my jetpack?" which goes over a number of those technological marvels science fiction promised us. So far, all we have are nukes and hand held communicators and thinking machines. Jetpacks, flying cars, hand held ray guns... we're still waiting. And I really want my jetpack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 Re: Ray Guns You forgot the lunar colonies and the cities on the ocean floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Re: Ray Guns Lasers are nice, but I prefer mass drivers. 50 grams of mass moving at 8000m per second is a hell of a lot of kinetic kill. Just don't let China play with the pretty toys or we're going to have a serious arms race... Matt "Still-pulling-down-the-shade" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Re: Ray Guns Lasers are nice' date=' but I prefer [b']mass drivers[/b]. 50 grams of mass moving at 8000m per second is a hell of a lot of kinetic kill. Just don't let China play with the pretty toys or we're going to have a serious arms race... Matt "Still-pulling-down-the-shade" Frisbee You just described my next Star Hero campaign. But to get back on topic, it's an interesting topic to keep tabs on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted February 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Re: Ray Guns Lasers are nice' date=' but I prefer [b']mass drivers[/b]. 50 grams of mass moving at 8000m per second is a hell of a lot of kinetic kill. Just don't let China play with the pretty toys or we're going to have a serious arms race... Matt "Still-pulling-down-the-shade" Frisbee I believe that 3000 mps is the best that they can do today, and that device is not portable. But they are working on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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