The United States has always had the best weapons systems in the world. The billions of dollars spent in the Department of Defense have insured America’s dominance in this field.
Currently, two systems are being tested that I find simply amazing. The first one is lasers.
The Air Force recently test-fired its Advanced Tactical Laser from a C-130 Hercules, scorching a truck’s hood. And last month the Army and Air Force teamed with Boeing Co. for a demonstration in which lasers on the ground shot down drones at China Lake, Calif., company officials said.
Laser weapon projects in the works include the Navy’s powerful Free Electron Laser; the Advanced Tactical Laser; the Laser Avenger, which was used to shoot down the drones at China Lake; and the Army’s High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator, or HEL TD.
“The technology is there,” said Scott McPheeters, senior research engineer at the Army’s Program Executive Office Missiles and Space in Huntsville, Ala. “What we need to do is get the systems put into more rugged configurations [to handle different environments].”
The lasers are working, both in the air and on the ground. Incredible.
Once these are deployed to the battlefield, I wonder how long until they are found on drones. If you can fit it on a Hummer, you should be able to attach it to a drone. I’m sure there would be different hardware and software requirements, but it’s definitely possible.
The second system that impressed the heck out of me is the Navy’s railgun. We are talking about a ship mounted weapon that shoots projectiles are around Mach 5. Yeah, it’s that cool:
The Navy is researching rail guns because they would weigh less than conventional ones, and since they rely on electromagnetics to fire rounds, you wouldn’t need a big, dangerous pile of explosives stored in a magazine. All of that means a lighter ship, and a much more deadly ship: a combat-ready rail gun would be able to fire Mach 5 projectiles over 200 miles with pinpoint accuracy, hitting 5 meter targets.
The Navy tested one of these guns in February. As the link above noted, it destroyed everything it touched. Check out this amazing video:
Very impressive. The projectile is traveling at 8,270 feet a second, or 5,640 mph. And the weapon was fired at one third its power.
Now if we can just keep the liberals from gutting the R&D funding, these weapons will make America even stronger.
Cross posted at Right Wing News.
