AAAWESOOME!
US firm Raytheon has unveiled its anti-aircraft laser at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire.
Raytheon said the solid state fibre laser produces a 50 kilowatt beam and can be used against UAV, mortar, rockets and small surface ships.
There are numerous real world applications for a laser than can knock out airborne threats, especially mortars and rockets.
“Airbases in Afghanistan, the Green Zone in Baghdad or the border with Gaza and Israel could all potentially use something like this.”
Raytheon is finally taking laser beam weaponry out of the movies and into reality.
The Massachusetts based company unveiled its Laser Close-In System (CIWS), which can shoot objects ranging from rocks to small surface ships.
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Maybe Dr. Evil will finally get his sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads after all.
Looks literally kill with this next gen fighter pilot helmet
Defense contractor Raytheon is on a roll lately. First the company demos that powerful laser cannon we showed you earlier, and now Raytheon is showing off a monocle-like helmet attachment that’ll have pilots killing with a glance.
Last year, British arms exports amounted to £7bn, a rise of 70% on the previous year. British firms captured 20% of the global market, making the UK the world’s second largest arms dealer behind the US, thanks primarily to orders from Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most tyrannical and abusive regimes.
Arms sales at the recent Farnborough ‘air show’ were down on previous years, reflecting the current climate of spending cuts, which look set to impact the defence industry significantly. Nonetheless, the new government has signalled its determination to promote the arms industry abroad:
That quote comes from a Guardian article, the authors of which suggest, sardonically, that “[e]thics may not be abandoned” in this push for a “new commercialism” in foreign policy.
For further background, see here.