(MintPress) – Over the past five years, the United States military has implemented new technology into its weapons, creating instruments such as the long-range acoustic device (LRAD) and a “heat cannon,” referred to as an active denial system (ADS). But military scientists are now inching closer to controlling lightning beams as a means of targeted destruction.
The technology will allow for a lightning bolt to travel along the path of a laser, allowing the operators to control its path. While there is, admittedly, an abundance of physics involved, the crux of the invention’s design would allow it to take out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them, according to the Army’s website.
The device was researched and engineered by the government’s own military research and manufacturing facility, Picatinny Arsenal. Lead scientist on the project, George Fischer, called the weapon a Laser-Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC). In the simplest terms, the lightning would follow the laser trail until it reaches a target.
Fischer explained the technology by first noting that the speed of light is not constant, rather it varies depending whether it is travelling through gases, solids, plasmas or other forms. Fischer said the laser needed to act as a host for the lightning is incredibly strong, but also short-lived, as the strike takes place in less than a second.
“If a laser puts out a pulse with modest energy, but the time is incredibly tiny, the power can be huge,” Fischer said. “During the duration of the laser pulse, it can be putting out more power than a large city needs, but the pulse only lasts for two-trillionths of a second.”
Popular Science writer Clay Dillow simplified the technology by saying that Picatinny is just trying to mimic the paths lightning takes during a thunderstorm.
“In other words, just as lightning arcs from cloud to ground via the path of least resistance, a high-voltage current will find its way down this filament rather than arcing unpredictably through the air,” Dillow wrote. “In other words, the laser just creates the path of least resistance between the power source and the target. Laser, lightning, destruction of target – in that order.”
The weapon is still in its developmental phase, as Fischer noted that there are still some technological worries to iron out. He noted that the weapon’s intensity has the potential to focus on too broad of an area and that it is currently bulky and requires a lot of hardware. There is no current timetable for the LIPC to be implemented in the field, and the cost has yet to be determined, although Dillow expected the price tag to be hefty.
“It’s not very practical (as with most laser weapons, it suffers comparatively from the fact that bullets fly straight, have a long shelf life, are easy to carry, and are really cheap),” Dillow wrote. “But a laser-guided lightning weapon? It doesn’t have to be practical to be amazing.”
The last technological venture of Picatinny’s to reach a warzone was in 2007, when the military brought in three Special Weapons Observation Remote Reconnaissance Direct Action System (SWORDS) robots into Iraq. The robots were equipped with machine guns and were modifications of the bomb-disposal robots used in both Iraq and Afghanistan at the time.
But two years after the robots were deployed, funding for the SWORDS program was cut, and development for the robots was halted. Speculation from publications, such as Popular Mechanics, mounted as military officials noted the weapons on the robots had not even been discharged over the course of two years. An official statement from the SWORDS developers noted three technological issues during testing, which contributed to the program never moving beyond its developmental stage.
“Three robots have been built so far; and while there has been considerable interest in fielding the system, some technical issues still remain and SWORDS is not currently funded,” Duane Gotvald, deputy project manager, told Popular Mechanics. “The U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division has used the robots for surveillance and peacekeeping/guard operations. The robot is armed with Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), M249 Light Machine Gun, and has not yet been used with this weapon in combat.”
Cost could also play a role in the lack of recent success from Picatinny inventions, as Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno speculated during a visit to the research facility in May. He noted that the Army must balance its resources during a time when budgets are often remaining stagnant or being reduced, but still injected faith into the research at the facility.
“The Army must be prepared for the broad range of missions over the next 10 to 20 years. You all play an extremely important role in that,” he told the audience. “As I think about here at Picatinny, I think about this as a place of innovation.”