DARPA looking to kickstart raygun tech

[LeighAnn]

Source: The Register (UK)

Rayguns are, um, on fire lately, with the US Army dishing out early contracts in its monster truck laser cannon race, Boeing planning a rather unimpressive blaster-equipped Humvee and the famous American nuke-toasting jumbo jet continuing to make headlines. Now the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon war-nerd bureau which loves nothing better than a long shot, has joined in.

In a solicitation issued on Tuesday, the military boffins are looking for nothing less than "a Revolution in Fibre Lasers (RIFL)".

Fibre lasers are one of the types of solid-state laser, as opposed to chemically fuelled ones not usually seen as practical for mounting in anything but cargo planes. Fibre lasers generate a coherent beam using a specially made optical fibre, usually (in higher power applications) with cladding layers wrapped around the central core.

American arms giant Raytheon, working with the US forces and Sandia National Lab, told Wired magazine it has used a bundle of fibre lasers with a total strength of 20 kilowatts to explode mortar bombs very quickly in tests - so quickly that it might be possible to build a system that could shoot down enemy salvos in mid-air. Most raygun fanciers, though, reckon that 100kW is the minimum for a proper blaster cannon which would be fun to have.

Read more: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/darpa_laser_blast_cannon_plan/

[soothsayer]

1. ZEUS (laser mounted humvee) is in Iraq and Afghanistan, blowing up mines and stuff

http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_Laser,,00.html

But it's only a 10kw laser, and it doesn't do moving targets.

[Trillo]

2. Translation?

We've already developed and deployed these weapons, they're now old enough technology that we can safely release the details to the public, the result of financial auditing pressures to justify our existence.

Perhaps it's satire.

[soothsayer]

3. Nah, DARPA solicits new technologies I think.

[BadgerKid]

4. IMO, Darpa and academia have dovetailing interests

Academia wants grant money, which is rather difficult to obtain to begin with. Figure a normal success rate of 10%.
Very intelligent DARPA program managers go around and seek new technology ideas than can be portrayed as weaponizable to military generals.
Academia and DARPA repackage the research talking points accordingly.