Boeing's new laser cannon 5 mile tank killer

Boeing's new laser cannon can melt a hole in a tank from five miles away and 10,000 feet up—and it’s ready to fly this year

How to Melt a Tank in Three Seconds Or Less

1. Find Your Target
When the C-130 flies within targeting range (up to five miles away), the gunner aims using a rotating video camera mounted beneath the fuselage. The computer locks onto the object to continually track it. A second crew member precisely adjusts the laser beam’s strength—higher power to disable vehicles, lower power to knock out, say, a small power generator. The gunner hits “fire,” and the computer takes over from there.

Some handy references would have been good...

here are some
Clicky
and for the hummer mounted version
Clicky

www.foxnews.com... look under videos
sorry it was on my homepage comcast.net could not find the address

makes me want to join the air force now.

Originally posted by purpleneonofdoom
makes me want to join the air force now.

I'm pretty sure that a ground based laser with proper battle information, (thats able to detect incoming aircraft) could take out whole aircraft formations.

Such weapon systems being developed are almost making war suicidal and rationaly unfeasible. As long as we're the only ones on the block with such a system we're safe i guess. Unless rivals come up with Hyper-Sonic Aircraft that have those systems installed.

Laser systems like that could be used for other purposes to help humanity, guess we'll just have to wait another 20 years before that happens.

so,

someone watched 'real genius' and thought it'd be a good idea...

Hopefully we will stop using depleted uranium with this new technology because it’s very polluting and hazardous to both sides. Cancer in Iraq is way, way up and many think it’s caused by all the spent depleted uranium left over from years of war. Saddam threw many of his destroyed tanks in the Tigris River. I watched one guy in Iraq go to a salvage yard with a Geiger counter and radiation was still at very high levels. Many Iraqi’s spend hours a day salvaging parts from these husks of spent war machines to make ends meat.

I wonder if this million dollar technology can be defeated with a $2 hand-held mirror?

If it can burn through tank armor I doubt a little handheld mirror will stand up to it. Although mirrors are a nice idea there's currently no such thing as a 100% reflective surface, so anyone trying to use a mirror is likely to have their whole hand burnt off. Now coating a tank in a reflective surface may allow it to survive a short burst it would have the downsides of making it extremely visible to every other enemy that's gunning for you. That and it'd just be a matter of increasing the power of the laser or the length of the burst. That or just wait for the target to go through a bit of mud.

Very cool its only a matter of time till we see ship board weaponry designed to defend against ASM's and the like. If it can get through tank armor then it also could be used against aircraft as well

Both of these systems use a chemical reaction to generate the laser light in the infrared spectrum (COIL or Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser). The chemicals present in the system make for a logistical problems as well as a toxic hazard for operators. Now they should be fine as long as the tanks remain sealed, but in a combat situation, at 10,000 ft, or on the ground in the case of the Avenger, I wouldn't want to be near those things when they get hit and start to leak. I won't even get into logistics of moving the chemicals to a battle front, or forward airbase. I am unsure of the purity of the chemicals used, but I would guess that they need to be quite pure to do the job right. Anyone else here know what happens to any organic compounds that come in contact with 100% hydrogen peroxide?

Taken from: en.wikipedia.org...

"Hydrogen peroxide, either in pure or diluted form, can pose several risks:

* Above roughly 10% concentrations, hydrogen peroxide can give off vapor that can detonate above 50 °C (158 °F) at normal atmospheric pressure.[citation needed] This can then cause a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) of the remaining liquid. Distillation of hydrogen peroxide at normal pressures is thus highly dangerous.

* Hydrogen peroxide vapors can form sensitive contact explosives with hydrocarbons such as greases. Hazardous reactions ranging from ignition to explosion have been reported with alcohols, ketones, carboxylic acids (particularly acetic acid), amines and phosphorus.[citation needed] The saying is 'peroxides kill chemists'.[citation needed]

* Hydrogen peroxide, if spilled on clothing (or other flammable materials), will preferentially evaporate water until the concentration reaches sufficient strength, then clothing will spontaneously ignite. [17][citation needed] ;

* Concentrated hydrogen peroxide (>50%) is corrosive, and even domestic-strength solutions can cause irritation to the eyes, mucous membranes and skin.[18] Swallowing hydrogen peroxide solutions is particularly dangerous, as decomposition in the stomach releases large quantities of gas (10 times the volume of a 3% solution) leading to internal bleeding. Inhaling over 10% can cause severe pulmonary irritation.[citation needed]

* Low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, on the order of 3% or less, will chemically bleach many types of clothing it comes into contact with to a pinkish hue. Caution should be exercised when using common products that may contain hydrogen peroxide, such as facial cleaner or contact lens solution, which easily splatter upon other surfaces.

Hydrogen peroxide is naturally produced as a byproduct of oxygen metabolism, and virtually all organisms possess enzymes known as peroxidases, which apparently harmlessly catalytically decomposes low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen (see Decomposition above).

In one incident, several people were injured after a hydrogen peroxide spill on board Northwest Airlines Flight 957 because they mistook it for water.[19]

During the Second World War some extermination camps experimentally killed people with hydrogen peroxide injections.[20]

Hydrogen peroxide was also part of the ingredients in the July 21, 2005 London Underground bombs, which failed to explode.[21]

An MSDS will contain more information on the risks of working with this chemical."

This is the same system that is used in the Boeing 747 YBL project. Another issue is the platform, regardless of size is limited to a certain number of shots before the chemical reactants are used up and need to be replenished. IIRC I believe it is 6-10 shots for the YBL. The advantage of this system is that heat removal is relatively easy compared to solid state lasers which have not been made as powerful as chemical lasers like COIL.


Props to the movie reference. One of my favorite Val Kilmer movies!

en.wikipedia.org...

Sorry, I ran out of space.

In short, I think that this is an interesting proposal, but I do not see it being a feasible weapons platform on the ground or in the air. Maybe a strategic platform like the YBL, but not a fleet of C-130s or Hummer Avengers. Give me some AC-130 gunships and an avenger with the best stingers (Or maybe even some AIM-120Ds! Hint hint) and a 25 or 30mm Gatling gun with a good radar and fire control, and I think you could do just as well with less cost and hazard to the crews. (That is if you can mount a 30mm Gatling gun on a Hummer....New thread maybe?)

Edit to make note of the IED killing capability of a laser Avenger: This is not a horrible idea, but again, those Hummers are in a combat zone, and while being able to blast IEDs from a distance is nice, the logistics and hazards are outweigh the benefits. (I am foreseeing a NBC nightly news report telling us that ___ number of US Service Members were killed when their Laser Avenger was punctured by some machine gun fire and all the brave souls lost their lives from horrible chemical burns....Who's to blame? Find out at 11:00!)

[edit on 25-3-2008 by armchairaviator]

Weren't lasers banned at some point?

i thought Boeing only made aircraft like 747

wow was i wrong

The two largest divisions are Boeing Commercial Airplanes and the Integrated Defense Systems. Integrated Defense Systems is Boeing's space and defense division.

*Boeing Capital

*Boeing Commercial Airplanes
**Airplane Programs
**787 Program
**Commercial Aviation Services
**BCA subsidiaries:
*** www.aeroinfo.com... Aeroinfo Systems
*** www.alteontraining.com... Alteon Training, formerly FlightSafetyBoeing
*** www.aviall.com... Aviall, Inc.
*** www.aviationpartnersboeing.com... Aviation Partners Boeing, a 50/50 joint venture with Aviation Partners Inc.
*** www.cdgnow.com... Continental Datagraphics
*** Jeppesen, formerly Jeppesen Sanderson.
*** www.preston.net... Preston Aviation Solutions

*Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
**Advanced Systems
**Network & Space Systems
***Boeing Satellite Development Center, formerly a unit of Hughes Electronics
**Precision Engagement & Mobility Systems
**Support Systems
**Boeing Australia|Boeing Australia, Ltd.
**Boeing Defence UK
**Joint Ventures
***Sea Launch (40% Boeing)
***United Launch Alliance (with Lockheed Martin)
***United Space Alliance (with Lockheed Martin)

*Boeing Phantom Works|Phantom Works
** Intellectual Property Management
** Corporate Engineering & Technology

*Boeing Shared Services Group
** Information Technology
** Boeing Realty
** Boeing Travel Management Company

Source: www.boeing.com...

reply to post by Duality


There was talk about banning lasers (1994 i think) used to blind people - but ive not found anything saying it happened....besides this is not used to blind people (just melt them and their tank! - which is fine isnt it?)

reply to post by FredT



exactly, aircraft, incoming missiles, other ships.

make it smaller and replace the main barrel of the M1 Abrams with a laser and then things will get interesting...

one would like to think that someday technology will get to the point that everyone just says "pff war? whats the point anymore" but thats what oppenheimer thought, and nobel, and...you get the idea

reply to post by kaiheitain


"Just like shootin' ducks in a barrel"

reply to post by bamaoutlaw


What site can I go to, to see the Fox News Video that demonstrated both the Laser tank killer and laser missle killer?

Cool, you think they might put some brisket on the pit and aim that suker at it and tah dah 3 second bar-b-que.