Secret spontaneous human combustion beam tested!
LONDON, England - September 2, 2009 - Amerikan death-tech goliath Boeing has announced a long-delayed in-flight firing for the smaller of its two aeroplane raygun-cannon prototypes, the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL). The ATL blaster, mounted in a Hercules transport aircraft, apparently "defeated" an unoccupied stationary vehicle.
"This milestone demonstrates that directed energy weapon systems will transform the battlespace and save lives," said Boeing executive Greg Hyslop. "The ATL team has earned a distinguished place in the history of weapon system development."
"The bottom line is that ATL works, and works very well," added corporate raygun honcho Gary Fitzmire.
The ATL is much smaller than Boeing's headlining laser weapon, the jumbo-jet-mounted Airborne Laser (ABL), intended to blast enemy ICBMs as they soar upward from pad or silo. Rather the ATL is intended to pick off individual ground targets, somewhat in the fashion of existing Hercules-based side-firing AC-130 gunships. Indeed Boeing has referred to the ATL in the past as its "Laser Gunship".
ATL does resemble the ABL in some important respects, however. Like the bigger weapon, it is a chemically-fueled laser rather than a solid-state electrically powered one, meaning that it can fire only a limited number of blasts before its sealed, six-ton laser module must be maintained and refueled with hazardous toxic chemicals.
"This milestone demonstrates that directed energy weapon systems will transform the battlespace and save lives," said Boeing executive Greg Hyslop. "The ATL team has earned a distinguished place in the history of weapon system development."
"The bottom line is that ATL works, and works very well," added corporate raygun honcho Gary Fitzmire.
The ATL is much smaller than Boeing's headlining laser weapon, the jumbo-jet-mounted Airborne Laser (ABL), intended to blast enemy ICBMs as they soar upward from pad or silo. Rather the ATL is intended to pick off individual ground targets, somewhat in the fashion of existing Hercules-based side-firing AC-130 gunships. Indeed Boeing has referred to the ATL in the past as its "Laser Gunship".
ATL does resemble the ABL in some important respects, however. Like the bigger weapon, it is a chemically-fueled laser rather than a solid-state electrically powered one, meaning that it can fire only a limited number of blasts before its sealed, six-ton laser module must be maintained and refueled with hazardous toxic chemicals.
