Do we really want automated laser weapons all over the place when the Boston Dynamics robots get fed up with the abuse and take over?

Navy Laser Weapon System LaWS will be deployed in 2014 has been added as a related post - related requested by Zawash on that post.

US Navy's Laser Weapon System (LaWS) has been added as a related post - related requested by Zawash.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/US-Navys-Laser-Weapon-System-LaWS

>> ^Shepppard:

Alright, now we need to develop a giant camel-like metal walking machine to mount this weapon on.
Until Al Queda invents A-wings, you're prettymuch set.


Yeah but if we hit their generators, they're toast.

>> ^Drachen_Jager:

Toys like this are the biggest problem the US military faces. It's easy for people in congress to push crap like this through for billions of dollars while their campaign supporters rake in the bucks. It's so much harder to scam taxpayers for billions every year when you're actually expected to deliver a product! That's why armoured humvees and soldier training take a back seat to stuff like this that will probably never be used on a battlefield.



I think that there is much merit in the points you made.

However, I submit that the weapons utility may indeed see field application. Tank mounted eventually perhaps, but base protection from airborne assault more likely sooner. Moreover, within the Phalanx role protecting ships as a replacement to present projectile hardware or as adjunct resource.

This is corollary development to the airborne missile defense technology that is being tested as well.

Energy weaponry has tbeen a dream of more than the sci-fi crowd for how long. It is inevitable is it not?

>> ^Shepppard:

Alright, now we need to develop a giant camel-like metal walking machine to mount this weapon on.
Until Al Queda invents A-wings, you're prettymuch set.



We can park it at the pizza place by the pyramids next to the sphinx.

>> ^ponceleon:

PEW PEW PEW



Clue,...sounds like.

Very good. I had to look that one up, myself.

I have been and am constantly impressed by how diverse, intelligent and informed the milieu is at the Sift. I remain humbled. That's good idn't.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I know I have a memory of Spock saying that some alien ship was not a threat because they only primitive laser weapons. It's funny, you never hear atomics mentioned at all in Star Trek - or Star Wars either for that matter.

Maybe during the cold war, the collective unconscious veered away from that weapon, as too close to home.