Boeing: UAVs downed with laser beams

[The Straight Story]

Boeing: UAVs downed with laser beams


SEATTLE, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Mobile lasers mounted on trailers shot down several small unmanned aerial vehicles, U.S. aerospace company Boeing says.

The company announced Tuesday that its Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments was being tested by the U.S. Air Force at the Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, Calif., when it used high-brightness laser beams to shoot down five unmanned vehicles, SeattlePI.com reported.

"MATRIX's performance is especially noteworthy because it demonstrated unprecedented, ultra-precise and lethal acquisition, pointing and tracking at long ranges using relatively low laser power," Gary Fitzmire, program director of Boeing Missile Defense Systems' Directed Energy Systems unit, said in a release.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/11/18/Boeing-UAVs-downed-with-laser-beams/UPI-62651258587630/

[geek tragedy]

1. T-minus 6 posts until

a reference to 9/11 or Paul Wellstone.

[FBaggins]

4. lol

[Nikki Stone1]

8. 9/11 and Wellstone predate this technology

First rec from me BTW

[geek tragedy]

11. That's what the government wants you to think.

:evilgrin:

[Nikki Stone1]

12. Now stop!

:party:

[Raster]

15. Wellstone = focused EMP pulse generation device

If there was ONE person in Congress that stood in the way of evil men, it was Paul Wellstone. He also had integrity, and was not owned. He also was listened to by more than just his constituents.

Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila and those about that plane were murdered. Bank on it.

on edit: His assassination was also a warning to the rest of Congress. Agree to our dirty war or pay the consequences.

[ddeclue]

17. Oh brother...

[Dreamer Tatum]

23. I like the name BFG-9000 better

I was a beta tester for the weapon on countless occasions in the mid-90's.

[NNN0LHI]

2. I wonder how well it works in rain, snow and sleet?

[baldguy]

5. I wonder how well it works in mountains of Pakistan?

[daleo]

3. Hurray!

More ways to kill people.

"But if we fail, then the whole world ... will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister ... by the lights of perverted science."

— Sir Winston Churchill, June 18, 1940

[TheWraith]

6. Actually it's most effective as a defensive weapon.

The Israelis have already been playing around with lasers for point-defense use in destroying incoming mortars and rockets.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. I have a laser question..... if you shine a laser on an object that is

186,000 miles away... then shine it on a similar object, moon, planet whatever that is 186,000 miles to the left or right of it and do this in less than a second and repeat over and over, what will the beam appear as.... an arc?? a straight line?? Curious.

[Robb]

10. strictly speaking

...a visible laser is only visible when it reflects off an object. Hence the smoke in laser light shows.

So, as an answer, a dot. :)

[arcadian]

19. They do have continuous beam lasers though.

I've got one.

[Canuckistanian]

9. I hear the Pakistani government is interested

Something about "protecting their allies".

[regnaD kciN]

13. On trailers...?

Why not on friggin' sharks?

[The Straight Story]

14. cause dolphins had the lower bid

:rofl:

[leeroysphitz]

21. that's just too much to ask...

[applegrove]

16. Just what airforce do they think they will be going up against in the next 20 years. They need to

invest this money in something that will sniff out IEDs.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Ok so what will be the next sci fi weapon?

:-)

Oh wait the Gauss Rifle is also now in experimentation...

[JetJaguar]

20. The neuronic dethinkulizer.

Never mind I already got one in th TV room.

[SidDithers]

22. BFG9000?...

:hi:

Sid

[arcadian]

24. I'd go with a rail gun.

[8 track mind]

25. you mean sharks with freakin laser beams attached to their heads? n/t