U.S. Army developing laser-based lightning weapon

U.S. Army

Earlier this spring, the U.S. Army revealed the existence of a project underway to build a device that could shoot lightning bolts down laser beams to take out a target. Now the military's boffins report success in their first tests.

The technology - known as laser-induced plasma channel - is designed to seek out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them.

Although scientists and engineers working on the weapon's development expressed confidence in the physics behind their work, George Fischer, who is the lead scientist on the project, nonetheless cautioned about the technical challenges still ahead.

"If the light focuses in air, there is certainly the danger that it will focus in a glass lens, or in other parts of the laser amplifier system, destroying it," according to Fischer. "We needed to lower the intensity in the optical amplifier and keep it low until we wanted the light to self-focus in air.

Laser weaponry is moving apace. In early May, for example, Northrop Grumman demonstrated a prototype system that burned through the skin of a drone playing the part of a cruise missile for the test. However, Fischer pointed to the challenges involved in synchronizing the laser with the high voltage, as well as how to build a device that's sufficiently rugged so as to stand up under extreme environmental conditions. The system would also need to be able to perform in the field over extended periods of time, he said, adding that a number of high-tech components would need to run continuously.

It remains unclear how soon the military can weaponize this sort of technology. A representative from the Picatinny Arsenal, headquarters for the project, was not available for comment.

However, there's clear interest in getting this done as the battlefield bottom line in having a weapon which can harness lightning bolts is huge in terms of the amount of energy generated.

"If a laser puts out a pulse with modest energy, but the time is incredibly tiny, the power can be huge," according to Fischer. "During the duration of the laser pulse, it can be putting out more power than a large city needs, but the pulse only lasts for two-trillionths of a second."

This article originally appeared on CNET with the headline, "Brrzzzt! U.S. Army checks out laser-based lightning tech"

[controlsmotors]

A comment about the Lightning Laser Weapon Developed By US Army
A lightning laser magnetically-pinched-nuclear-fusion power-generator is described in the Nasa Create The Future Design Engineering Contest entry May 17, 2012 where a lightning laser is used to capture real lightning from the sky which is then used to ignite nuclear fusion reactions! An artificial lightning spark generated by a tesla coil is conducted along ionized channels of air which were ionized by an ultraviolet or other lasers into the clouds and ionosphere to discharge available real lightning which then travels down the lightning laser ionized path beam to a magnetically confined nuclear fusion generator. The captured real lightning is transformed to higher amperages which are used to magnetically pinch deuterium-tritium creating supersonic shock waves which compress and ignite the tritium fuel while it is confined in a magnetic bottle. Heat generated is used to produce steam for a steam turbine which rotates an electric generator to power the grid. This seems to be a suggested peacefull application of a both deadly and non-lethal weapon that could vaporize missiles, detonate improvised explosive devices, control crowds, shoot terrorists from remotely piloted aerial vehicles, and decrease death from police accidents.

[UForgotPoland]

This is awesome, you people need to stop complaining! Now we need power armor!

[Bojax39]

And now we know what's really aboard the just launched "top secret" spy satellite the media was blabbing about today. :-)

[skeezix06]

How much are they spending to develop this?
Where are they getting the money to fund it?
Do we even need it?

It's time to cut their budget. A lot.

[knewsteerrrrr]

1) billions
2) cutting back the funds for your schools, hospitals, police, fire, road and bridge repairs, job creation, health care and medical research.
3) did we need 54,000 nuclear bombs sitting in silos for years, bought for enormous sums of money and then dismantled and scrapped when the truth came out about how the Russian war "threat" was like the Tokin Bay "incident"?

It's time to cut OUT their budget entirely, along with the money squandered now on plannign a space station on the freaking MOON and mars!

[audemus]

Don't we have enough ways to kill people already ?

[knewsteerrrrr]

no, not yet, we still need more and more billion dollar weapons!

[randomites]

Blammo!

[Jaylah54200]

Wasn't there an episode on the television show "Numb3rs" about this recently?

If it works as well in the real world as it did on that show, it's a TOTAL waste of tax dollars.

[zebra8835]

Regardless, Telsa would have been tickled! Science often advances one step at a time.

[commuted]

This was so stupid when it was used to extract money first time. Do they still need a ruse to rob taxpayers? We know all about it, laser heats air, air ionizes, ionized air conducts electricity. Over and over again. IT WILL NOT WORK IN A PRACTICAL SETTING. And even if you can use it in a tunnel, what do you hope to accomplish by electrifying the outside of a car? Read: "Men who stare a goats" if you don't get it.

[Truth_Bee_Told]

It won't work? Wonder why the government doesn't just consult you on these things before they start such projects...people like you are pathetic.

[hypnotoad72]

Private industry doesn't see research as being profitable (hence their crowdsourcing it to people dumb enough to have anonymous reports sent to companies for 'improvement' and other things)...

Since a lot of things, right down to the internet, started out AS GOVERNMENT PROJECTS, your comment is way off base. As is my response, in a way... but without handouts and free tools from the government, corporations would have gotten nowhere. Thank, especially, the internet, and spare me one obvious false remark about a certain vice president as he created nothing...

And the real robbers are the corporate lobbyists that keep fleecing you and me and everyone else in our country...