Set phasers to burn . . .

[voluptuary_manque]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13033437

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Excellent! We're now one step closer to having sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.

(For the movie-quote challenged: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw)

 

[Handley_Page]

Or military Guard dogs ?

 

[R. Richard]

HELs are the perfect answer to the pirate problem. You have a pirate attack? Use a HEL to set fire to the pirate's engine(s). You then call in a military ship to watch the disabled pirate ship. When the mother ship comes, it's HEL time again. A few hundred miles is a long way to row.

 

[estragon]

Richard, do you really think the pirates haven't got enough ransom money to buy their own HELs? Or that Kim Sung Il & Co couldn't build a few and sell them? The trouble with these great weapons is that either they're flops, or every bandit has one within two months of launch.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Richard, do you really think the pirates haven't got enough ransom money to buy their own HELs? Or that Kim Sung Il & Co couldn't build a few and sell them? The trouble with these great weapons is that either they're flops, or every bandit has one within two months of launch.

I think you underestimate the difficulty in building them. If the pirates could afford first world weaponry, why would the most advanced item in their arsenal be an RPG? They don't even have SAGGER wire guided missiles and those things were developed in the early 70's. Nor do they have Stingers or any other anti-aircraft weaponry.

And in their current level of effectiveness, it doesn't look like HEL's would be good against a full size ship. Outboard covers are pretty thin sheet metal and look how long it took to set fire to one.

Not that I don't think a pair of mounted fifty cals wouldn't be just as effective and a lot cheaper if you wanted to arm your tanker.

And no, Kim Il Sung, etc. couldn't.

 

[R. Richard]

Richard, do you really think the pirates haven't got enough ransom money to buy their own HELs? Or that Kim Sung Il & Co couldn't build a few and sell them? The trouble with these great weapons is that either they're flops, or every bandit has one within two months of launch.

The problem isn't money. The problem isn't even finding sources of weapons. The problem is maintenance. An RPG is a very low maintenance weapon, as is an AK-47. However, something like an HEL requires expert maintenance, adjustment and operation. The kind of people who become Somali pirates don't have the knowledge or the inclination to do maintenance. If really sophisticated weapons are funished to the pirates, the weapons are, due to lack of proper mainternance, as likely to kill or injure the pirates as their prey.

 

[Handley_Page]

Another report on it:-

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/11/onr_mld_boat_burn/

 

[voluptuary_manque]

A 64 mega-joule railgun? Sheeeeeeee-it!

 

[Handley_Page]

A 64 mega-joule railgun? Sheeeeeeee-it!

I wonder if the designers have eliminated the possibility of a large EM pulse every time it goes off ?

Get the steam catapults going, lads, please.