Monday, 1 December 2008

Boeing’s ABL Ray-Gun Fires First Full-Power Blast

Remember Boeing’s Airborne Laser (ABL) which was designed to annihilate nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)? Well, its first shots were fired through a calorimeter back in September and now, as Boeing announced today, has completed its first full-intensity ground test with the weapon integrated in its entirety inside a Boeing 747-400F aircraft.

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Thursday, 31 July 2008

Air Force To Launch X-37B Military Spaceplane: Dissidents, watch out!

The USAF has a new weapon that could take care of those who speak ill of the United States. In partnership with Boeing, they have developed the world’s first unmanned military spaceplane which will launch before the end of this year.


The spaceplane is designed to be reusable, being capable of numerous takeoffs and runway landings. The objective for its first mission reads like cryptic military parlance; risk reduction and experimentation.


The launch is scheduled for November on the back of an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, stealing the reserved launch slot of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which got bumped to early 2009.

Is it really a stretch to see this spaceplane rigged with Boeing’s death-ray lasers and covertly targeting weapons factories, airborne missiles, political targets or even dissidents on the surface? Scary!

Sources:
AviationWeek
Via: Gizmodo

Monday, 19 May 2008

Boeing Fires Death-Ray From C-130 Gunship

Boeing announced today that one of its aerial laser cannon plane prototypes has fired its first blasts in ground testing.

The laser being tested is called an Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL). It is fitted to a normal C-130 military transport and weighs in at 20 tons (6 tons for the laser, 14 tons for the guidance controls). Boeing completed installation of the laser on December 4th at Kirkland Air Force Base, N.M and dubbed it the laser gunship.

The ATL laser is expected to be used to take out targets such as cellphone towers or vehicles and do so silently from a distance of 18-20km. It is designed to deliver a speed of light engagement capability that will increase accuracy and reduce collateral damage.


“First firing of the high-energy laser aboard the ATL aircraft shows that the program continues to make good progress,” said Scott Fancher of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

There is another laser project underway at Boeing called the Airborne Laser (ABL). Designed to disintegrate nuclear missiles from hundreds of kilometres away, it is the ATLs bigger brother – so large it will have to be mounted to a jumbo-jet.

To generate the high-intensity beams, both types of laser use toxic chemical fuels. Laser beams of this strength cannot currently be produced with electric equipment.

Boeing is expected to flight test the ATL system within the coming months.

Photo credit: aftermathnews.wordpress.com

Friday, 16 May 2008

Honeywell & Airbus to turn algae into jet fuel

The race for second-generation biofuels is on, with Honeywell announcing it has joined JetBlue Airways, International Aero Engines and Airbus in research to develop algae-based jet fuel.

Honeywell said they are testing and developing biofuels from crops that can be produced without competing with water or food resources. Crops such as algae.

Algae is proving very popular as a second-generation biofuel.
Virgin Atlantic, GE Aviation and Boeing are leading another group who are also researching algae-based fuels.


Virgin undertook the first biofuel test flight earlier this year. They flew a commercial airliner from London to Amsterdam on a mix of 80 percent regular jet fuel and 20 percent biofuel made from babassu oil and coconut oil.

Environmentalists criticised the flight, warning that using biofuels to power aircraft would lead to deforestation because of the demand it would create for agricultural land.

Richard Branson, head of Virgin Atlantic, dismissed the criticism. He said the flight had proven biofuel to be technically feasible for air travel and that the group could now focus on developing biofuels based on algae, grown in a sustainable manner.