Lightning Gun FAIL.

We at PopSci appreciate new weapons. And lasers. And laser weapons. Which is why we're excited to tell you that the Navy and the Marines have given a company called Applied Electronics about a million dollars to attach lasers onto planes. The weapons would be ultra-short-pulse (USP) lasers, which shoot beams of frequent-pulse light that create a path through the air, via which bolts of electricity can travel toward a target.

Applied Electronics used to exist in the form of the company called Ionatron, which was tasked with creating military-grade lightning weapons (above). The project and company failed -- hence the lack of lightning-based weaponry today -- so it'll be interesting to see if USP laser weapons are more successful. If so, they might be able to test the lasers on popcorn-filled houses.

[via Wired]

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14 Comments

star wars is coming true, YYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEUWrj7SyPk

what did the gods strike you down by? ok, i thought you so. this is possably some sort of anti balistic missle weapon on the design boards. ok, that being said... religious zelots, war said to last over 100 years, many dead... did you ever hear that the southern americans would have surrendered if you told them we were god? A simple lightning bolt from the sky would do us a great deal of good in this war. i am ashamed at popsci for doing a full press release on this. i know, it has been around over five years but still. programs are built on words like shock and awe. are you guys and girls even american? first the electro-magnetic pulse man portable weapon spill, and now this? i dont know anymore. guys please shape up. maybe your not american but i am. i still live in this country and hope for the best. can you pull this article... it is still new.

I'm sorry, MSDraw. I read your comment, but it just kinda rambled on and I couldn't figure out what you were saying.

what i was saying was severial years ago popsci had an article for a emp bomb that could be easily constructed, they got in some hot water from it. this article is the same. a weapon like this shouldnt be seen or heard of by anyone untill it fires its first shots above a war zone. then i insinuated that the psycological effects of this weapon against insurgents would be awe inspiring and that popsci staff who posted this were unAmerican.

Oh. I get it now. Anyway it was the Wired guys who posted it first, blame them.

Attaching lasers on to planes is public knowledge, it's been in the news, newspapers, and several other magazines. This information may be a small update, but it's not new. Non-Americans also read popular science, and the world isn't run by America either. You should be referring to humankind, because no country on this Earth is better than the other, we're all humans, we're all equal, so cut the crap.

Americaaaa! F*@k yeaaaaa!

Comin Again to save the motha f*@kin day yeaaaa!

laser guns here we come!!!!!!!!!!

that company uses the lazer only as a path for the electrical charge to follow.

Is there such a devise as laser deflectors? If this killing machine is aimed at a deflector would the two tanks holding the energy that operates this type laser blow up? Is an effort to simply avoid destruction by using technology appear at times more usefull, than it's application to harm?

@Cookiees453

You totally get.

@ultimatenerd

DANG! You beat me to the Star Wars comment.

"Welcome! to the Federation Starship SS Buttcrack!!!"

when do we get lightsabers?

Pretty neat -- "Taser on steroids!"

And not even any wires! (I guess, anyway.)



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