April 11, 2011 01:02 am EDT

US Navy's solid-state laser sets boat ablaze (video)

See that flaming wreckage in the picture above? A laser did that, mounted on board a second vessel similarly bobbing on top of the ocean last week. Yes, even though the United States Navy told us that legitimate seafaring death rays might take another decade to materialize, basic weaponized lasers are ready today, as the 15-kilowatt gun attached to the USS Paul Foster happily demonstrates. Of course, as you'll see in the video after the break, a beam of such minimal power takes a moment to burn through even an unshielded engine and ignite the fuel therein -- once we get some 100+ kilowatt lasers up in there, we shouldn't have such problems.

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US Navy's solid-state laser sets boat ablaze (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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