Military develops a Star Trek-like phaser

[Robb]

KIRKLAND, N.M., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- First comic strip hero Dick Tracy's wrist radio moved from science fiction to everyday fact and now Capt. Kirk's phaser is headed to the Air Force arsenal.

Air Force researchers say they've developed a non- lethal laser ray gun called the "PHaSR" -- for Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response. The intense laser beam produced by the rifle-sized weapon temporarily disorients its target.

"We picked the PHaSR name to help sell the program," program manager Capt. Thomas Wegner of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico told the New York Daily News. "It's an obvious homage to 'Star Trek.'"

(more)

[SteppingRazor]

1. Wow... my inner geek just ODed. n/t

[Bassic]

7. Ditto nt

[timber84]

2. beam me up rummy

[BloodyWilliam]

3. Um, it's just a laser pointer.

Its not an amazing energy beam that zaps someone and knocks them out. It's a bright light they shine into peoples' eyes to piss them off and confuse them.

[benburch]

4. There is a laser/energy weapon more like a phaser, though...

The laser beam ionizes the air in its path, and conducts a pulse of charged plasma to the target.

Not sure what they will call that one, but I have heard that they are working on it.

[sui generis]

6. PhaShizzle

that's my vote

[berni_mccoy]

9. Are you thinking of an Ion Gun?

They are high-speed particle beams... the focused ones can put holes in just about anything... very nasty. The technology is also used for hi-speed interplanetary propulsion systems.

[Tesha]

10. No. There's a technology that creates an ionized channel to the target...

> Are you thinking of an Ion Gun?

I can't speak for the previous poster, but I think the answer is:

No. There's a technology that creates an ionized channel to the target
that then allows the conduction of an electric current. Think of it
as a "taser without wires". I'm pretty sure it uses an ultraviolet
laser to ionize the air molecules to create the conductive channel.
It's not a "force" weapon, just a stunning weapon.

I don't know how far along the development is, though.

Tesha

[sui generis]

11. that's the one I read about

I think pop sci or sci am one of those.

[sui generis]

5. yeah a beam of coherent light with the right wavelength and energy

to burn a hole through you is kind of scary actually.

A gun makes noise, people drop and run. A laser - you could just cut a whole crowd in half horizontally before they even knew what had happened.

I'm kinda happy with the oogly laser pointer thingie myself.

[Javaman]

28. knowing the military, they would add a sound effect to it...

they like big booming sounds, but I'm sure they will keep the "silient but deady" verson for "under cover" operations.

sorry, couldn't resist the pun. :)

[sui generis]

32. oh lardy lardy

holds head, grimaces.

Sooner or later we will have hand held energy weapons though - not looking forward to all the mischief that could cause.

Good thing batteries are the sticking point for now!

Haven't had enough coffee or other beans to "return fire" on your puns.

:P

[AngryAmish]

8. Set your faces to "stunned"

[daleo]

12. Kirkland airforce base, eh?

Figures.

I sounds like it is just a bright light, although who knows what damage it could do to people's eyes.

[plasticsundance]

13. I believe the military is working on transporting ...

Not to transport humans, but objects. I was told this, but cannot verify it. But the person that told was high caliber educated person.

The idea is to transport the objects using a laser to somehow capture very thin slices of the object and then have it sent across distances where it is reassembled. They supposedly managed to do this over very very small distances, but the hope is someday to do it over miles.

[DS1]

14. Meanwhile, Al Qaeda have invented the ...

Personal
Handheld
Automatic
Stimulation
Reflector

[Sam_Lowry]

21. Good One!

caught me off guard like I'm sure it will the soldier!

:rofl:

[MADem]

27. Which can be neutralized with the MAGIC MIRROR

Magic Mirror, tell me today,
Did all my friends have fun at play?

[norml]

15. Web Results 1 - 10 of about 118,000 for "directed energy weapons".

Web Results 1 - 10 of about 118,000 for "directed energy weapons". (0.25 seconds)
Tip: Save time by hitting the return key instead of clicking on "search"

Directed Energy Weapons
Directed Energy Weapons. Sources and Resources. Report of the High Energy Laser
Executive Review Panel: Department of Defense Laser Master Plan, March 24, ...
www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/dew.htm - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

IV.K. Electronic Warfare/Directed Energy Weapons.
Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) include laser, high power radio frequency (HPRF),
and particle beam technologies. HPRF technology is frequently called high ...
www.fas.org/man/dod-101/army/docs/astmp/c4/P4K.htm - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

www.mikrowellenterror - Targeting the Human with Directed Energy ...
Directed energy weapons are among the high-tech arms of the century. ...
Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) are mostly intended for military purposes (US Air ...
www.mikrowellenterror.de/english/mw-weapon.htm - 28k - Cached - Similar pages

The Use of Directed-Energy Weapons to Protect Critical Infrastructure
America’s critical infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to the threat of
precise, airborne missile attack. Directed-energy weapons (DEWs) can help ...
www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/bg1783.cfm - 57k - Cached - Similar pages

Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs): A Bibliography
Directed Energy Weapons: A Bibliography. Directed Energy Weapons. Acronyms ·
Books · Periodicals; Documents, Theses and Technical Reports ...
library.nps.navy.mil/home/bibs/dewtoc.htm - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

Directed Energy Weapons(DEWs): A Bibliography (Web Sites)
Directed Energy Weapons: Sources and Resources Scientists] http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/dew.htm ...
library.nps.navy.mil/home/bibs/dewweb.htm - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Mind Control: Technology, Techniques, and Politics
"Non-Lethal" and Directed-Energy Weapons. Non-lethal (or nonlethal) weapons is
a term used to describe weapons which can incapacitate, subdue, ...
www.datafilter.com/mc/nonlethalWeapons.html - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

Directed Energy Weapons Safety
Directed energy weapons use “a beam of concentrated electromagnetic energy or
atomic or ... Directed energy weapons possess unique characteristics such as ...
afsafety.af.mil/AFSC/RDBMS/Weapons/ dteam_directed_energy_weapons_safety.htm - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

10. Electronic Warfare/Directed Energy Weapons
Directed-energy weapons (DEWs) can be considered a special type of electronic
attack that are handled as a separate category to distinguish them from more ...
www.arl.army.mil/tto/ARLITT/ASTMP/ane_tekj.htm - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

Gyre.org : Keywords : Directed Energy Weapons
The Use of Directed-Energy Weapons to Protect Critical Infrastructure -- Jack
Spencer and James Jay Carafano -- Heritage Foundation -- August 02, 2004 ...
www.gyre.org/news/explore/Directed+Energy+Weapons - 28k - Cached - Similar pages

Try searching for "directed energy weapons" on Google Book Search



http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22directed+energy+weapons%22&btnG=Google+Search

[ThreeCatNight]

16. Can you say....big ass flashlight? nt

[saigon68]

17. To us on the next generation of "ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS"

They will love killing a few pacifist kommunists

[FighttheFuture]

18. Now if they could only develop a society, an economics, like Star Trek...

that would be the real pinnacle of success! What type of world must it be? A form of very advanced socialism to be sure, supported by the facts of basic energy and resource needs mostly solved with anti-matter, fusion, transporter/replicator technology. Capitalist it ain't!

As Picard tells Lilly in ST 8: First Contact when she asked how much the ship cost to build:

"The economics of the future is somewhat different. You see, money doesn't exist in the 24th century... The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity."

Alas, we will have to settle for more weapons, non-lethal weapons designed to be used on crowds... for control; for the inevitable social unrest soon to come.

[Sam_Lowry]

22. Unfortunately, this is the society they are working towards

In Newspeak there is no word for 'Science'. The empirical method of thought, on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc. And even technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty.


There are therefore two great problems which the Party is concerned to solve. One is how to discover, against his will, what another human being is thinking, and the other is how to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand. In so far as scientific research still continues, this is its subject matter.

2+2=?

[Xithras]

29. In ST that was a technological evolution, not a social revolution.

The economy in ST existed the way it did because it was the only alternative. The replicator and transporter made production and labor valueless, and antimatter reactors made energy an unlimited resource...who would pay you to work, when they could push a button and get the same result for free? Capitalism died because there simply wasn't a way to make money anymore.

The economies weren't capitalist, communist, or socialist, because there WERE NO economies. People's "careers" were simply a way to alleviate boredom. You weren't paid for your work, you just did it because the alternative was to lounge around all day, which isn't much of a life.

[FighttheFuture]

35. That's one opinion... not quite correct, though...

To build the society, to run it took work. There would still be a need to allocate resources, labor, time, etc; just not in any fashion we would understand today. Sure, energy and survival needs were very well solved in certain cases, but not everything could be replicated (e.g. Dilithium) Still, the federation had credits for trading with other societies, and there was something going on. This is all irrelevant speculation on fantasy, anyway.

The real question is what kind of economics could exist in the future that would allow mankind to grow. Communism, FAILURE. Capitalism is also a Failure, the price we pay for all it's trinkets is becoming way to expensive--it is eatingus alive. Socialism is an obvious path, but as it exists today, it is still crude, and requires a level of capitalism (i.e. Property rights) to extract and move the wealth around. It is always in danger of the ravages of greed or sloth.

There is something called Participatory Economics ("parecon") that I since found that discusses a potential economy that could fit ST. I have to read more about it. Check out: http://vanparecon.resist.ca/StarTrekEcon/ and http://www.parecon.org/

[Hyernel]

19. Let me know when I can have a LIGHTSABER!!!

Only then will my Jedi training be complete!

[sui generis]

26. vvvvVVVVVV vvvvvvvv vvvvvvvvvv

(sizzle)

[Emillereid]

20. Like the human race needs another weapon!

[ForrestGump]

23. "The rifle-sized weapon temporarily disorients its target"

I really don't think it prudent that they tested this thing on George W. Bush

[OKthatsIT]

24. Its going to kill many people

I had a dream about this.

[Cronus Protagonist]

33. It will blind a lot of people too

Count on it.

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[Sabriel]

25. PLEASE don't tie Star Trek in to this bunch of militaristic *uckers

It's a travesty of everything Roddenberry's vision stood for.

[Ezlivin]

30. Sorry. Without Scotty they won't be able to repair it when it breaks

It's all well and good to develop Star Trek weapons, but without a top-notch engineer like Scotty, you're doomed to run on impulse power.

[VegasWolf]

31. WONDERFUL!! A beam of coherent light controlled by an incoherent

madman. Just what the world needs!!!

[tabasco]

34. Your tax dollrs a t work.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans cannot see a doctor because they have no health insurance, and millions more slip into poverty.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WAR PROFITEERS !