Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Iron Beam Laser Under Development To Shoot Down Missiles With Lasers

The Iron Beam system is a laser-based missile defense system still under development. As far as I know, this system is not yet operational.

This video is a year old, from the Wall Street Journal. It describes accurately the many limitations of this kind of system.

Increasingly sophisticated airborne threats – including mortars, rockets, and UAVs as well as swarms of mini-UAVs – are being faced by both military forces and population centers. Since current Kinetic interceptor systems are expensive and not always sufficient to counter some of these threats, powerful new solutions are required that meet the needs of this new reality.

Any multilayer air defense array consists of a number of various types of interceptors. HEL may serve as a complementary interceptor, having the advantages of engagement at the speed of light, unlimited magazine, and negligible cost per interception. RAFAEL is currently developing two HEL systems, IRON BEAM and LITE BEAM.

LITE BEAM is a 7.5kW HEL interceptor for C-mUAVs and ground targets such as IEDs and UXOs, neutralizing targets from a distance of a few hundred meters to up to 2000 meters. The first proven prototype of LITE BEAM is already available.

IRON BEAM, a 100kW class High Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS), is expected to become the first operational system in its class. IRON BEAM is designed to intercept a wide range of threats such as RAM and UAVs from a distance of a few hundred meters to up to several kilometers. The system can be integrated on multiple platforms and may be a complementary HEL interceptor to any multilayer defense array.

(Via Rafael Defense Systems.)

I've been covering this kind of system for a long time; take a look at an early article from 2004 which describes a successful test at the White Sands Missile Range: MTHEL - Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser.

If you're my age you probably remember this use of a fictional power ray to shoot down or disable a powered aircraft on the series Jonny Quest. The episode The Robot Spy was first broadcast in 1964.

I've been racking my brain to think of a specific example of lasers or other power beams used to shoot down missiles; typically this mix of advanced energy weapons and chemical rocket munitions is not found in science fiction.

Energy beam weapons have been in use since War of the Worlds, published by H.G. Wells in 1898; see the article for the heat ray.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/11/2023)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")

Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.' - Simpson Stokes, 1937.

Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.' - Charles Stross, 2007.

Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.' - Don Wilcox, 1939.

Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.' - Fritz Leiber, 1958.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'

Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'

Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'

Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'

Tesla Seeks 'Tesla Robotaxi' And 'Robobus' Trademarks Ignoring Prior Art
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'

Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'

Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'

Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'

Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'

Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'

Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'

Anthropic's Claude AI Creates Legal Citation From Whole Cloth
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'

Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
'About time you got here,' the astronaut said.

'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
'...using a neutralizing electronic impulse.'

Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?'

Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.