Wednesday, November 14, 2007

This is just downright cool!

A laser IED and dud ordnance killer:
Late last month, Boeing conducted a series of tests at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama with a 1-kw laser mounted on the back of a converted anti-aircraft Humvee. Shooting an invisible beam just a few centimeters in diameter and 20 times hotter than an electric stovetop, the laser burned a hole through the casing of artillery and mortar rounds, detonating them more or less instantly. (As for bystanders, all bets are off.)

Damn, I hope this pans out as working equipment.

This is starting to look more like equipment from David Drake's Hammer's Slammers stories. Powerguns, anyone?

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