Army Moves Ahead With Mobile Laser Cannon
By Noah Shachtman August 19, 2008 | 12:06:07 PMCategories: Lasers and Ray Guns
The Army is moving ahead with plans to mount a laser cannon on a massive, 35-ton-plus truck.

The service just handed Boeing a $36 million contract to "continue developing a truck-mounted, high-energy laser weapon system that will destroy rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds," according to a company statement.

Under the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) Phase II contract, awarded Aug. 15, Boeing will complete the design of, then build, test and evaluate, a rugged beam control system on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. Boeing also will develop the system-engineering requirements for the entire HEL TD laser weapon system.

Low power demonstrations are scheduled for 2010, with battlefield-strength laser tests to follow in 2013.

About a year ago, the Army asked Boeing and Northrop Grumman to work up preliminary designs for the HEL beam control system -- and promised to choose a winning model by 2009. So the program appears to be on track. And it's one of a number of energy weapon projects that have been picking up steam, after decades of unfulfilled promise. Relatively easy-to-deploy electric lasers have just about worked their way up to weapons-grade. Boeing recently test-fired the real-life ray gun on its Advanced Tactical Laser -- a blaster-equipped gunship. Raytheon has worked up a prototype of its Phalanx mortar-shooter that uses fiber lasers, instead of traditional ammo, to knock down targets. Even the eternally-delayed Airborne Laser -- a modified 747, designed to zap ballistic missiles -- may finally get a long-awaited flight test.


SO is this why we're trying to get back on the moon so bad? So we can build a world dominating "laser" like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers? lol

I look forward to calling space based IR LASER artillery down on the enemy, shortly after Psy Ops calls "Sim Sala Bim!" over the loud speaker.

Crosses fingers!

I don't know if it is worth the money or not because I'm obviously not qualified to say. Right now they use the $15M C-RAM units for this task, which is an amazing piece of equipment. It's completely automated and fires fused 20mm ammo at 3-4k RPM.

C-RAM in theater
C-RAM testing
Current Lazer version, too large?

I wonder how much we pay for each round...

last time I checked, we claimed it for USA, and humanity was at stake?!?!?!?! OMG!.

if we ever made it there in the first place

That C-RAM is bad ass! Hadn't seen the night videos of it yet. Hell yeah!

As for the lasers. You gotta spend the money sometime to develop it. With as much money is being wasted on pork projects, at least this one can produce something useful. It's more worthwhile than a quarter billion dollar bridge to 2,000 people in Alaska. In the long run it seems like it might be cheaper in the end than the 3k-4.5k 20mm rounds a minute that the C-RAMs use. It will make for some interesting situations if it's turned on and a passenger jet is overhead though.

Lasers are the future, and the future takes money to develop.

I just can see us still using bullet launchers in the year 3030, and we have to start somewhere.

I want an Assault Shotgun Laser Blaster! For Trap and Hunting!

Now that's more like it! I want my tax dollars going towards weapons instead of these bullshit gubbermint TIT programs!

What we need is a shit load of modernized F-15s let's be realistic atleast, I could see a "Laser" Weapon system on a ship but land based it has to have a train of power genoration systems fuel support etc. A purpose built ship could be built and it has mobility over 70 percent of the planet.

and for land attack we could have mirror blimps which would reflect the "Laser" to the ground target or satellites with big mirrors

Not even Austin Powers could resist this!

Correct me if I am wrong but shooting a "laser" through air causes a lot of attenuation to the beam also a "laser" is a line of sight weapon so it would be usless in hilly or wooded areas. What freaking good is it? Maybe as a defensive weapon but then whe have Patriots for that.

I could see the Navy using such a weapon, maybe the Air Force, but the army not so much.

atmospheric interference can be overcome to some extent - the particles you hit with the beam with attenuate the power a small amount but we can now overcome the defracation issues that result from variance in air density, humidity etc. It called something like "adaptive optics" and it sends out a test beam, analyzes the return signal and then uses a flexible mirror to "reshape the beam" so that it hits the target in the right configuration using those pockets of density variances to shape the beam in mid-flight ....as it were.......kinda hurt you head to think we can do that shit now....but a buddy of my us using the same technology in color vision research 0 just small scale - the technology he uses is adapted from the 747 based laser cannon.

i'm for spending to develop new technologies......but we have to have priorities as well......

True, but it would be effective in say, flat desert terrain perhaps?

That C-Ram seems to be a land based Navel Phalanx system???

Man, that Brit in the first C-Ram video,,,,well, he really didnt keep his cool did he??

As far as the Laser system, Im sure the first thing the marines do with this system is to point it at some stronghold. Or directly at infantry, ANYTHING but what its designed for. Can you say At-4 rocket? So im sure it'll get more applications than mortars and missles...

I think the potential uses for lasers are great, and I believe it's long overdue that they've invested in the development necessary to make them practical.

heh, they might be testing these lasers on russia the way things are going. PEW PEW LAYZERS!!

Answer this for me, while we were the only country to be able to do it technologically, other could certainly monitor out progress. What kept them from blowing the whistle on the US if the whole thing was a fake?