Frikin Lasers!

The YAL-1A, a modified Boeing 747-400F known as the Airborne Laser, lands at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The Airborne Laser Testbed successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile Feb. 11 over the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Air Force photo)

A specially modified 46th Test Wing NC-130H aircraft equipped with the Advanced Tactical Laser weapon system fired its laser while flying over White Sands Missile Range, N.M., successfully hitting a target board located on the ground. Equipped with a chemical laser, a beam control system, sensors and weapon-system consoles, the ATL is designed to damage, disable or destroy targets with little or no collateral damage. (Courtesy photo)

Huh?

Ultrafast flashes of X-rays can eject an electron from a molecule, leaving the molecule in a super excited state that eventually causes it to break apart. The interaction of atoms and molecules is both useful for making coherent X-rays which, in the future, may show previously undetectable cracks in jet turbine blades. (Courtesy image)

What?

Bob Raulerson demonstrates a MKVII target locator to joint terminal attack controllers at Atlantic Strike VI Nov. 6 at Avon Park, Fla. Contractors and industry representatives held training sessions throughout the event to familiarize military members with new software and hardware upgrades headed to the battlefield. JTACs were then able to use new equipment during simulated enemy engagements on the Avon Park Air Ground Training Complex where fellow Airmen designed scenarios to prepare units for urban close-air-support operations. Mr. Raulerson is an engineer with Northrop Grumman Corp’s Laser Systems Division. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Stephenie Wade)

The YAL-1A Airborne Laser, a modified Boeing 747-400F, takes off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on March 15 for a five-hour test mission.  During the flight, the aircraft’s target illuminator laser fired for the first time. The Airborne Laser is undergoing a long-term test phase at the Air Force Flight Test Center here in preparation for the integration later in the year of the chemical oxygen iodine laser, or COIL, a missile-killing, high-energy chemical laser. ( U.S. Air Force photo/Kellie Masters)

O0ps, I missed this one

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) — Capt. Drew Goettler demonstrates the Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response, or PHaSR, a non-lethal illumination technology developed by the laboratory’s ScorpWorks team. The technology is the first man-portable, non-lethal deterrent weapon intended for protecting troops and controlling hostile crowds. The laser light used in the weapon temporarily impairs aggressors by illuminating or “dazzling” individuals, removing their ability to see the laser source. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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