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USAF develops ‘dazzling’ laser weapon; Edit: More directed energy fun!
Topic Started: Dec 7 2005, 10:18 PM (741 Views)
Conker the Great
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Quote:
 
By Brock N. Meeks
Chief Washington correspondent
MSNBC
Updated: 5:05 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2005

Posted Image

WASHINGTON - It’s the stuff of fiction.  A hand held laser weapon with the Star Trek moniker “PHaSER,” developed by the Air Force as a non-lethal weapon capable of being used on the battlefield or on the mean streets of any major city.

Think more along the lines of Buck Rogers rather than a Star Wars Jedi light saber. 

The “Personal Halting and Stimulation Response” (PHaSER) bears as much resemblance to the Star Trek phaser as a Volkswagen does to an M1 Abrams battle tank.  Air Force researchers refer to the device as “man portable,” because the prototype takes two arms to cradle and no small amount of heft to raise it to the shoulder and fire.

Using a two-wavelength laser system — the details of which Air Force researchers declined to discuss — the weapon is intended to temporarily blind an attacker.  The Air Force calls it “dazzling” a suspected bad guy.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10268690/

Edit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10805240/?GT1=7538

Quite a lot of blab about American laser technology.
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Feldoon
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Or shoot the bastard. With a regular gun.

Guess which is more efficient.
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Hercule Pyro
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Feldoon,Dec 7 2005
10:35 PM
Or shoot the bastard. With a regular gun.

Guess which is more efficient.

Guess which one is more likely to be used by the police for subduing suspects, as opposed to leaving bloody holes in their skull which may lead to lengthy court cases?
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demishock
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I suppose if they actually get it to function properly it'd be something of an asset, but I'm also not too keen on the fact that they're spending $900,000+ on a big ol' laser gun. It'd make more sense if it was the size of a pistol. But if you go after a 'baddie' with a thing like that,

A. they're gonna see you coming a mile away, and
B. it'll take you so long to lift, aim, and fire the thing that they'll have pulled out a REAL gun and shot you already

x . x;

As an aside, I'm kind of appalled (but throroughly unsurprised) that the U.S. didn't agree to the no-permanent-blinding protocol... gack.
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Conker the Great
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I think that they intend that weapon for police stand offs, where the user would be hidden or behind good cover.

It still does look kinda... excessive. I have a feeling that they went a bit overboard with the plastic on it.

Police are already using a non-lethal laser weapon. Looks more like a flashlight though. It blinks at a certain rate that causes blindness and I think nausea and vertigo in a target. I've only seen it on the History Channel though, and even then only at close range (small rooms).
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demishock
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Well, thinking on it, I guess it makes a certain amount of sense that it's so huge; just look at computers: we started with ones that were the size of an entire room, and have been making them progressively smaller and thinner ever since. And then guns back in the day were pretty big to begin with, and have become smaller as well (although there are huge ones, too). So I guess that's how a lot of new inventions start out. But it still doesn't look incredibly practical to me as-is...
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Jeffk38uk
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Slightly old for me since this was shown on Engadget a month back or so.

Still bloody cool though. Goes right up to with the taser guns and that mech suit.
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Major Maxillary
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It's a seisure beam.
Like everything else that the R&D boys roll out, it emphasises form over function.
it's a less-than-lethal tool like the taser, stun gun, and microwave "discompfort" gun.
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demishock
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Jeffk38uk,Dec 7 2005
07:21 PM
Slightly old for me since this was shown on Engadget a month back or so.

Still bloody cool though. Goes right up to with the taser guns and that mech suit.

The mech suit you're referring to... Land Walker?
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Major Maxillary
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Heh, that's a redundancy if i ever heard one.

"Land Walker," heh.
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Spinmaster
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Major Maxillary,Dec 8 2005
02:29 AM
It's a seisure beam.
Like everything else that the R&D boys roll out, it emphasises form over function.
it's a less-than-lethal tool like the taser, stun gun, and microwave "discompfort" gun.

Ya think with all the spiff gadgets they come with, they could learn to invent some decent names for them. I guess that'd be too much brain work for them.

It looks like something out of Halo.
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demishock
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Major Maxillary,Dec 8 2005
12:53 AM
Heh, that's a redundancy if i ever heard one.

"Land Walker," heh.

Yes... as opposed to Skywalker. *shot with the laser*
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Jeffk38uk
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demishock,Dec 8 2005
06:14 AM
Major Maxillary,Dec 8 2005
12:53 AM
Heh, that's a redundancy if i ever heard one.

"Land Walker," heh.

Yes... as opposed to Skywalker. *shot with the laser*

actually I was referring to the HAL-5

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000517070706/


Even if the purpose is for something completely different, its still pretty cool.
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HunteRS
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HAL5 -now that's just cool. Where do I get one of those?

On the subject of the Laser-well it's nice in theory but here's a point-they spent $9000,00 on this revolutionary and safe way to incapacitate criminals-Yet the CIA spent nearly about $45 million dollars on thier StarGate programme, whose main purpose was to train psychic spies and assasins. Makes you wonder whose in charge of these budget decisions. Is David Ikce right and the Lizards have taken over? Also there have been accusations in the past of the US using hi-tech weaponry of this kind since the seventies, where several protestors at Greenham common Military base suffered from strange symptoms including nausea, siezures and temporary loss of vision. Doesn't make this so new does it?
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Hercule Pyro
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HunteRS,Dec 8 2005
12:40 PM
Doesn't make this so new does it?

yes and no. It's new to us - But odds are it's been in development for at least a decade, and whilst the US government might be run by an incompetent buffoon, the guys who run Millitary R&D are sharp.

We all know the story of the Blackbird, do we not?
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Feldoon
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Eastwood,Dec 7 2005
10:38 PM
Feldoon,Dec 7 2005
10:35 PM
Or shoot the bastard. With a regular gun.

Guess which is more efficient.

Guess which one is more likely to be used by the police for subduing suspects, as opposed to leaving bloody holes in their skull which may lead to lengthy court cases?

Tazer.

XD

Seriously though, until that gun becomes less clunky, it's not really that good.
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Conker the Great
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Heh, SR-71. Lockheed's Skunkworks. Kerosine. Mach4+.

But anyway, the US Army is working on Patriot-like missile defense systems using lasers, one of which is called the MARAUDER (they love their names) which managed to shoot down an artillery shell. Of course I haven't heard much else, like how many times it missed.

As far as less-than-lethal goes, tasers only effective at close ranges, and even then they aren't guarented to subdue someone. And they have been known to kill people on occassion. Though I did read some variants of the taser, notably one that uses a laser to ionize air so electricity can flow through it, and another that is basically a firefighter hose that electrifies a stream of salt water.

This is what I do when I get bored, look up random stuff or watch the History channel.
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demishock
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Jeffk38uk,Dec 8 2005
03:18 AM
actually I was referring to the HAL-5

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000517070706/


Even if the purpose is for something completely different, its still pretty cool.

That IS pretty damn nifty. Although the fact that it's called HAL is a bit scary... *thinks of 2001: A Space Odyssey* XDDD
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Jeffk38uk
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I would be worried of any hardware or software under the name HAL. with capital letters.

Well that and Skynet. >.>
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Major Maxillary
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Eastwood,Dec 8 2005
01:30 PM
yes and no. It's new to us - But odds are it's been in development for at least a decade, and whilst the US government might be run by an incompetent buffoon, the guys who run Millitary R&D are sharp.

We all know the story of the Blackbird, do we not?

The government is run by congress, which is equally incompetent but that's beside the point.

while i agree that they boys in DARPA and other R&D departments are the brightest around, they're what we like to call "Book smart and World stupid." they can bring out all kinds of impressive stuff, but only a handfull of it is worth a damn. not to say they should stop thinking up bright stuff, just that they should stop working on the radar guided, self aware, nanoscopic missile and focus more on an A/C unit for bodyarmor or something.


Fun Fact: The SR71 blackbird was origionally intended to be a supersonic interceptor, armed with a first-gen prototype of the Phoneix missile(those big asses missiles that you see on F14 Tomcats).
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Hercule Pyro
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Major Maxillary,Dec 8 2005
11:46 PM
The government is run by congress, which is equally incompetent but that's beside the point.

My apologies. Incompetent bufoons.

By "smart" I meant they're able to keep hyperadvanced weaponry under wraps for extended periods of time, whilst it seems any decent newspaper could find out what Bush had for breakfast on any given day.
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HunteRS
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Having seen this I also have to wonder if any real research is going into rail guns a la Metal Gear Rex. Not the walking tank part-just the undetectable shell. That's a real next gen weapon.
Quick question-what was the name of that guy who invented a suit capable of withstanding bear attack? I saw a film about it recently and all I could remember was that he was American and he'd also claimed to have developed a cure for cancer.
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Conker the Great
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Yes there is rail gun research going on, and the US Navy is particularly interested in having their cannons have several hundred extra miles of range, and not have to carry massive amounts of gunpowder. From what I hear they have yet to figure out a way to make a reusable rail gun. Current rail guns are only good for one shot and require repair, because the magnetism screws the gun up.
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Hercule Pyro
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That, and if urban legend is to be believed, the only working prototype to be seen in public sank the ship thanks to the recoil.
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Fat Man
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Eastwood,Dec 9 2005
06:19 PM
That, and if urban legend is to be believed, the only working prototype to be seen in public sank the ship thanks to the recoil.

or the one the RN built which didnt sink the ship but missed by abought 50 miles

This thing may look impractical but then again so does a sniper rifle if your thinking abought chasing someone then gettin up close and personal as opposed to one shoot from a couple of yards away
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