The Navy has passed a major milestone in its quest to build an incredibly powerful new anti-aircraft gun.Scientists with the Navy's Office of Naval Research have demonstrated a prototype system capable of producing from thin air the electrons needed to generate ultrapowerful, "megawatt-class" laser beams for the agency's next-generation system.
"The injector performed as we predicted all along," said Dinh Nguyen, senior project leader for the Free Electron Laser (FEL) program at the Los Alamos National Lab, N.M. "But until now, we didn't have the evidence to support our models. We were so happy to see our design, fabrication and testing efforts finally come to fruition."
He said the group is hoping to set a world record with the futuristic new weapon -- which could be the Holy Grail of military lasers.
FEL technology generates powerful laser beams by passing a stream of electrons -- those tiny, charged particles of matter -- through magnetic fields. Using electrons means avoiding the hassle of chemical fuels that are required for ordinary gas lasers, and bypassing the heating issue of electronic lasers.
Producing a laser without the energy required to heat up the gas is a major breakthrough. They can get more bang for the electric buck, shoot faster and adjust the beam better than the old versions. If this works out, old school missiles like the Harpoon and Silkworm are instantly worthless (unless fired in the thousands at one target). This will take a huge advantage away from Iran in trying to close the gulf with their Chinese silkworms.
Oh... and I have to say it.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!