Contributed by: filbert Monday, August 06 2007 @ 11:38 AM CST
For a quarter of a century, energy weapon enthusiasts have fantasized about a ray gun that never runs out of shots — and can be “tuned” to blast through the air, at just the right wavelength. But, for most of that time, such a “free electron laser[*2] ” weapon seemed like just a dream. Now, DANGER ROOM[*3] has learned, the Navy is about to give the go-ahead to begin work on a building a battlefield-strength free electron laser. It’ll take around $200 million to pull off, and it won’t be ready until 2020 or so. But if it all works out as planned, military researchers may one day have “the Holy Grail of lasers[*4] ” in their hands.
Click through to the article to see this puppy burn through a metal plate.
Via Hot Air[*5] .