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HEL MD Laser Weapons Will Sound Like Star Wars, Star Trek
I guess this is not so much as a science fiction prediction, as a science fiction self-fulfilling prophecy. What I'm really wondering is whether or not the US Army will pay a royalty.
(HEL MD, descendant of HELLADS)
On the desert floor, on top of a big, sand-coloured truck, a cubic mechanism pivots and fires an invisible infrared beam to zap one target after another. This High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) is a prototype laser weapon developed for the US Army by aerospace giant Boeing of Chicago, Illinois. Inside the truck, Boeing electrophysics engineer Stephanie Blount stares at the targets on her laptop's screen and directs the laser using a handheld game controller. “It has a very game-like feel,” she says.Thanks to computerized aiming, HEL MD can operate in wholly autonomous mode, which Boeing tested successfully in May 2014 — although the trials uncovered an unexpected challenge. The weapon's laser beam is silent and invisible, and not all targets explode as they are destroyed, so an automated battle can be over before operators have noticed anything. “The engagements happen quickly, and unless you're staring at a screen 24–7 you'll never see them,” Blount says. “So we've built sound in for whenever we fire the laser. We plan on taking advantage of lots of Star Trek and Star Wars sound bites.”
I guess we should have seen this coming. I've detailed in previous articles how silent electric cars are being modified with sounds (Electric Cars To Make Noise By Law?, Audi E-Sound Gives Electric Cars A Voice and What Should A Hybrid Sound Like?).
This kind of mobile system is getting very close to what science fiction writers since H.G. Wells have envisioned when writing about the heat ray in War of the Worlds. More recently, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote about laser cannon in their 1974 novel Mote in God's Eye.
While you're here, you might as well learn a little about how Ben Burtt, sound designer, created the sounds of America's modern military.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/6/2015)
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