07.29.15
Our ray guns aren’t even fit for sci-fi tv
Research into basic science and the American military don’t mix. That’s because our generals and admirals aren’t known for their zeal over it. Unless it promises the magical. (There is, for instance, this magical prediction that the jet fuel problem had been solved. We will make it from water!)
So they are rubes for private sector rip-offs and boondoggles perpetrated by American arms manufacturing giants.
It’s been easy to observe in the semi-regular cant/hype issued over “directed-energy weapons,” or ray guns, always said to be “game-changers” for the future.
From a recent Reuters piece (notice it comes from a convention hosted by private sector military and intelligence parasite firm, Booz Allen & Hamilton):
“Directed energy brings the dawn of an entirely new era in defense,” Lieutenant General William Etter, Commander, Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, told a conference hosted by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment.
The military has been working on such weapons for decades, but says many technology challenges have finally been addressed.
Of course, this is not correct. The military application of lasers has been stunted by power requirements and almost total lack of effectiveness in what my be called — the real world.
I’ll get to this in a minute.
Continuing from the Reuters piece:
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the conference the Navy was encouraged by testing of a laser deployed on the USS Ponce in the Gulf, which can destroy small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles, and can also be used as a telescope.
Mabus said the Navy was extending deployment of the laser on the Ponce, and using lessons learned to help produce a 100-150 kilowatt laser prototype for testing at sea in 2018 or sooner.
More accurately, the Navy laser is effective only at destroying the equivalent of souped-up motorized kites and the boats Lincoln Vail used to ride around on in The Everglades.
The Ponce, on the other hand, is a huge ship. It could just as well run over any of the threats the alleged on-board laser could counter.
Also, there is the “rail gun”:
He said a powerful new railgun that could hit targets 100 miles away would also be tested at sea next year. A railgun is an electrically powered electromagnetic projectile launcher.
If you watch the video you’ll see the nonsensical pitch by the BAE Systems salesman.
The Navy’s main problem are the power handling, generation and storage requirements as well as the hazard.
The rail gun is theoretically to be fitted to the Navy’s largest ships, one example being the Zumwalt destroyer, a program that was halted at three ships.
The rail gun, if published news is correct, requires at least half the power-generating capacity of such a ship when it’s under way. In addition, no one likes to talk about the ship-board hazard posed by the charging and discharge of such large power systems during repeating fire.
Conservatively, it will kill people. On board. And then break down.
Theoretically, charging capacitors as large as a house. Oy.
“Pentagon funding for directed energy programs would remain steady at about $300 million a year for now,” reads Reuters.
By contrast, the NRA generates around $300 million/year from its membership. So maybe the military really isn’t that serious about the programs, after all.
But, said Secretary of the Navy Mabus, who will want a job in high management at a US manufacturer of these things when he leaves his position: “[He] said Iran and other countries were already using lasers to target ships and commercial airliners, and the U.S. military needed to accelerate often cumbersome acquisition processes to ensure that it stayed ahead of potential foes.”
In other words, “Mr. President we cannot allow a [fill-in-the-blank] gap!”
Also, the rolling micro-wave non-lethal weapon that doesn’t work except on those willing to be shot by it, men trapped in a room, or a crowd hemmed in by police, usually know as the ADS or The Sheriff, might be useful:
Major General Jerry Harris, vice commander of Air Combat Command, said the Air Force had developed a high-power microwave weapon that could disperse crowds without killing people by rapidly raising body temperature, and the system could be put to use immediately on drones or other aircraft.
The Sheriff was deployed to Afghanistan and was brought back without firing a shot because, essentially, it doesn’t adapt well when people can shoot back. Plus, public relations problems related to the potential for atrocities, torture, ruined careers, things like that.