EMP Mssile:
Announced on October 16th Boeing and the US Airforce successfully tested the CHAMP missile (Video at this link)
Laser Cannons:“This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare,” said Keith Coleman, CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works. “In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive,”
Announced on Oct 23rd US Navy ships to receive shipboard Laser Cannons
Other items in developmentThat’s how close the U.S. Navy is to being able to field the first generation of “directed energy” weapons aboard ships, according to Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, the chief of the Office of Naval Research. Klunder made the claim Monday to WIRED.com’s Danger Room, which has been following the development of the futuristic laser arsenal.
Earlier this year Klunder’s office had said the Navy was four years away from mounting the laser weapons, but he told WIRED Monday that recent tests had been “very successful” and the Navy has figured out physics issues that plagued early concepts.
“We’re well past physics,” he said. “We’re just going through the integration efforts… Hopefully that tells you we’re well mature, and we’re ready to put these on naval ships.”
The weapons are designed to track and fire on threats to a warship that could include anything from armed drones and small “swarm” boats to incoming missiles and aircraft.
The Naval Rail-gun:
BAE Systems won a contract to deliver a 32 megajoule lab launcher in June 2007 to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Electromagnetic Launch Facility, located in Virginia at the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Dahlgren Division Laboratory. On 31 January 2008, test firing began with this launcher. The railgun was fired at 10.64MJ (megajoules) and the 7 lbs. (3.2 kg) test slug projectile attained a muzzle velocity of 8,268 fps (2,520 mps).
Now we can fend off those darn aliens that keep zapping and invading the US.
