Celebrating #ScienceFictionDay with US Navy Technology Development
Four Science Fiction-like Technologies that the US Navy is Developing and Researching Photo Courtesy of Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO) (Editor: We are pleased to share an article from the Navy Office of Community Outreach, originally published here .) By David Smalley, Office of Naval Research LASERS From the 1930s on, science fiction comics, books and movies had plenty of futuristic portrayals of “ray guns” shooting some kind of mysterious energy. Decades later, Star Wars and Star Trek helped captivate millions more with the idea. But all along, the Office of Naval Research has been steadfastly developing the real thing. Starting in the 1950s, ONR sponsored research that ultimately led to the first “lasers” (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). Today, ONR is working on high-energy, solid-state laser weapons. The Laser Weapons System (LaWS), a prototype, was fitted on a ship in the Arabian Gulf in 2014 and proved the ability ...