Lightning Bolt Plasma Laser - U.S. Weapon

Fun stuff. We actually had a very brief discussion on this once before on the forums, but most felt it was just speculation. Here's a bit of evidence, now:

Original post
Horrifying US Secret Tank Unleashed in Baghdad!!

On that date, al-Ghazali and his family sheltered in their house as a fierce street battle erupted in his neighborhood. In the midst of the fighting, he noticed that the Americans had called up an oddly configured tank. Then to his amazement the tank suddenly let loose a blinding stream of what seemed like fire and lightning, engulfing a large passenger bus and three automobiles. Within seconds the bus had become semi-molten, sagging "like a wet rag" as he put it. He said the bus rapidly melted under this withering blast, shrinking until it was a twisted blob about the dimensions of a VW bug. As if that were not bizarre enough, al-Ghazali explicitly describes seeing numerous human bodies shriveled to the size of newborn babies. By the time local street fighting ended that day, he estimates between 500 and 600 soldiers and civilians had been cooked alive as a result of the mysterious tank-mounted device.

The following link is to a military website, so if you have a problem visiting it, here's an excerpt.
Picatinny engineers set phaser to 'fry'

Scientists and engineers at Picatinny Arsenal are busy developing a device that will shoot lightning bolts down laser beams to destroy its target. Soldiers and science fiction fans, you're welcome.

"We never got tired of the lightning bolts zapping our simulated (targets)," said George Fischer, lead scientist on the project.

The Laser-Induced Plasma Channel, or LIPC, is designed to take out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them. How did the scientists harness the seemingly random path made by lightning bolts and how does a laser help? To understand how the technology, it helps to get a brief background on physics...

I hope this helps the original gentleman who asked what this was so long ago.

US Army develops Tesla style Lightning Bolt to destroy enemy vehicles
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I remember reading about 10 years ago that the military had created the exact same thing but on a much smaller scale. Basically it was a laser taser. It used a IR laser to ionize a path through the air and then introduced a electrical current to the beam. THe current carried along the beam like a electrical conduit and would be able to shock people up to 100 yards away. No surprise that they had developed it into something much bigger.

As for the story about the beam being used in Iraq. It's plausible but what good would it do. Pretty sure a AT4 or a M203 would make just as short work as the lightening gun. Figure it would be better suited for use against helos and aircraft hunting the tanks, not on a bus. Also, 500 people killed with this weapon in one day and there is no evidence of it anywhere in the hospital records of 500 people blackened and shriveled up to the size of infants.

I've heard of using a laser to guide lightning before but this is the first actual report of a weapon based on that principle I've seen. I wouldn't be surprised if they tested this out in Baghdad 2003, as the idea has been around for a long while and it is likely that Picatinny is much further along in the development of this weapon than they say.

I sure hope all these buck rogers weapon systems the military has seemingly fallen head over heals in love with are protected against anything imaginable for disruption and have batteries second to none.

If the power on our toys ever fails all at once, we're in a world of hurt and probably searching hard for anything white and made of cloth....quickly. We're becoming so dependent on the gizmos here and our enemies aren't. Our toys turn off and everything the enemy has still works just fine....as they grin like the Cheshire Cat. Not a pleasant picture as these advanced weapon stories come one after another here lately.

reply to post by alfa1


Cool, thanks, Alfa. Search function isn't always that accurate.

Still wanted to point out at least, that this isn't something new to this year. We've had this puppy a long time. What we have now.. =x

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
Also, 500 people killed with this weapon in one day and there is no evidence of it anywhere in the hospital records of 500 people blackened and shriveled up to the size of infants.

This is true what you say. There was no mass incident. The original witness' estimates are speculative.

There are possibly thousands missing in Iraq, but reader discretion is involved.
Iraq's missing people

Oh, one more thing. This isn't probably going to be in the news anytime soon, but when the whole "weather control" issue is finished, a nice satellite [could] be deployed after soaking enough solar radiation, then focusing a number of charges down through the clouds using GPS over a location [could] (like a laser but with an invisible line of ..) rain down lightning upon any intended target.

/end >.>

Someone's knocking at my door, gotta go.

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
I remember reading about 10 years ago that the military had created the exact same thing but on a much smaller scale. Basically it was a laser taser. It used a IR laser to ionize a path through the air and then introduced a electrical current to the beam. THe current carried along the beam like a electrical conduit and would be able to shock people up to 100 yards away. No surprise that they had developed it into something much bigger.

As for the story about the beam being used in Iraq. It's plausible but what good would it do. Pretty sure a AT4 or a M203 would make just as short work as the lightening gun. Figure it would be better suited for use against helos and aircraft hunting the tanks, not on a bus. Also, 500 people killed with this weapon in one day and there is no evidence of it anywhere in the hospital records of 500 people blackened and shriveled up to the size of infants.

I doubt that people would bring the bodies to the hospital if they were shrunk to infant size and melted into the surrounding bus. If it did happen that way I would love to see some evidence of it. Those Iraqi's need to get some old cell phones with cameras and use them.

I am on the fence about what they have in the tanks, but I am sure the ability is there. I personally work with plasma as a hobby. I have been doing different things with it for years, but never been able to ionize air to provide a conduit for current flow. I can't keep from melting my tungsten in air so I am not sure how they could possibly have any longer than a couple seconds of current flow from the cathode without destroying it.

I would love to see the business end of that machine.

.

reply to post by SoulVisions


They can already do this ......... The Sad thing is it could be used to power the planet and do away with polluting technologies .

.

This might be for real.
At least it's certainly in development.

www.army.mil...



This is some seriously crazy stuff.
Laser Induced Plasma Channels to make freakin lightning guns...
wow.


xmb.stuffucanuse.com...

For very powerful and high intensity laser pulses, the air can act like a lens, keeping the light in a small-diameter filament," said Fischer. "We use an ultra-short-pulse laser of modest energy to make a laser beam so intense that it focuses on itself in air and stays focused in a filament.

To put the energy output in perspective, a big filament light bulb uses 100 watts. The optical amplifier output is 50 billion watts of optical power.

If a laser beam is intense enough, its electro-magnetic field is strong enough to rip electrons off of air molecules, creating plasma," said Fischer. "This plasma is located along the path of the laser beam, so we can direct it wherever we want by moving a mirror.

Air is composed of neutral molecules and is an insulator," Fischer said. When lightning from a thunderstorm leaps from cloud to ground, it behaves just as any other sources of electrical energy and follows the path of least resistance.

The plasma channel conducts electricity way better than un-ionized air, so if we set up the laser so that the filament comes near a high voltage source, the electrical energy will travel down the filament.

After reading this thread...I remembered hearing about a man who saw a house get struck by lightning and catch fire the other day....We've been having afternoon thunder storms every day the past week as well as this week.

The man's account is very interesting....

“When that lightning hit, I felt my car shake,” Hunter said. “This was the biggest bolt of lightning I’ve ever seen. I mean, this bolt of lightning looked like it was five or six feet wide. So, when I saw that, I was like, something’s happened.”

Come to your own conclusions...scary stuff if you ask me.

Source

Coming to a city near you!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The B1 Stealth Bomber operated for over 30 years before the public had any knowledge of its existence, imagine the kind of technology the military industrial complex has right now that we won't know about for another few decades. All the Ipad and Google Digital Glass technology is pretty much super spy tech from the 90's.

reply to post by SoulVisions


So I guess Lockheed Martin took this weaponized concept and adapted it to its drones considering this has been around for a few years unless they had the idea for a while and weaponized it first and then figured "HEY!, we can use this to power our electric drones." Either way interesting thread in the moment I read this I put 2and 2 together. I look forward to seeing a thread about how this means of transfering electrical power and delivering it by means of a laser could be used on everyday things. In otherwords cheaper means of creating power for consumers. Also there is an existing thread about the drones being powered by laser if u want to check it out but I can't link it at the moment. I agree we are on the cusp of great discovery, technology is only gonna get better. Even Bill gates back a few years ago said by 2036 there will be a robot in almost every home.

I know that these will probably be used to kill innocent people at some point. But, future weapon technology is always sooooo cool. Shame we have to put our best minds into the things designed to kill things, but hey that seems to be how the world has always been.

It's also handy against drones, cameras, and the all futuristic robot warrior.

reply to post by SoulVisions


S&F!
Just posting to find it later and add it to my folder.

My concern is how they are developing that much amperage to melt cars and busses. How are you going to put a device that creates that sort of juice in a small flying drone.

Tanks I figure can simply use their treads to recharge some sort of capacitor. I've heard of jets using something called a flame jet generator that used the planes ionized exhaust like a conveyor belt that would charge up a tesla coil. But that should create voltage not amperage. But I know squat about electronics.

reply to post by BASSPLYR

My concern is how they are developing that much amperage to melt cars and busses. How are you going to put a device that creates that sort of juice in a small flying drone.

Tanks I figure can simply use their treads to recharge some sort of capacitor. I've heard of jets using something called a flame jet generator that used the planes ionized exhaust like a conveyor belt that would charge up a tesla coil. But that should create voltage not amperage. But I know squat about electronics.

They use solid-state batteries.
Next generation is crystal form and 90%+ efficient (ranges by type), whereas all batteries civilians buy from the store to power their electronics are typically around 20%(?) or so. More power, more efficient, smaller size. Add in kinetic or other type of attached systems to recharge it, and you've got a beautiful system to keep high-energy-drain applications running smoothly on the battlefield.

Btw, I realize you didn't mean to, but you've stumbled another project in the works that (basic sum-up from a friend of a friend of a cousin's friend) uses this same technology to farm the ever desired "Zero point energy."

It's around us everyday and in abundance. Solar electro-magnetic radiation (light) and/or heat. Use a device to capture aforementioned energy and you have unlimited power in the palm of your hands, rain or shine.

Add then a system such as the "Ion cannon" plan I spoke about earlier and it can then be distributed anywhere in the world.

Take my word for it, this is my field.

Isn't this what they used on 911? Isn't it was caused all those cars engine blocks to melt that were blocks away from the impact zone? Nah it was probably much bigger than the one in the pic - a lot bigger.