Talk:Directed-energy weapon

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[edit] Associated Press article

The following story on AP newswire contains some updated information about Directed Energy Weapons. Might be worth editing in. --jaymin 03:09, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)

  • I've removed the text of the original article, as it overwhelms this page. The original title was "Pentagon Looks to Directed-Energy Weapons", published Sun Aug 1, 3:39 PM ET, by Michael P. Regan. A simple Google search will bring up plenty of related articles. —HorsePunchKid→龜 07:45, 30 July 2005 (UTC)
  • This article is now in Talk:Directed-energy weapon/AP_article. Anthony Appleyard 06:09, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] BH-209 plasma cannon

I do not see that the BH-209 is any more likely to be made real, than any other sci-fi plasma gun. Anthony Appleyard 09:23, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Weapon that shoots light at the eyes

I've seen this device in use on a documentary on non-lethal weapons. It was a prototype I think, but more than rumoured. It emitted a cone of strobing green laser light. Could someone dig up some more info and tidy the article up? --KharBevNor 23:56, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Problems with lasers/Blooming

This section needs clarification for various reasons: It neglects to define "blooming." It describes the plasma-forming effect of a powerful laser in the atmosphere (which I assume is the blooming effect) but then describes this as a positive effect for long range projection of the laser, rather than a problem. There is also a sentence noting that a laser is invisible unless something scatters its light, and the relevance of this isn't clear.

  • Continuous wave laser beam propagation through an absorbing medium heats the medium along the path of the beam; the heating of the medium then induces a local change in the index of refraction of the medium which, in turn, causes some effects of spreading, distorting, bending, or defocusing of the beam. These are known as thermal blooming or thermal lensing effects. One important consequence of these effects is to spread the laser beam over a larger area, thereby reducing the intensity incident on a target. [1]
  • High power phenomena such as thermal blooming arising from absorption of beam power in the beam line optics or gas within the beam line, generally causes the beam diameter to increase dramatically. In the case of CO2 laser radiation, thermal blooming can take place if a significant amount of water or organic vapour is present inside the beam path. Such vapour if result from the evaporation of the oil or grease hat are used to lubricate bellow sections of the beamline. [2]
  • Absorption of laser energy causes local heating of the air. The resulting local reduction in both the air density and refractive index causes the laser beam to undergo thermal blooming, i.e., defocusing. This deleterious process can be significantly reduced by choosing an operating wavelength in an atmospheric window where the absorption is low. [3]

Some links about blooming. — Omegatron 03:28, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

why not just use two lasers focused on the same target? It is certainly doable

Because both lasers bloom and become ineffective. Bobman110 23:21, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Seizure-inducing light weapon, "or so the legends say..."

"There is said to exist a real non-lethal weapon that disorients a target by shooting disorienting lighting patterns at the eyes."

The phrase "there is said to exist" has no place in an encyclopedia. Said by whom, and why has it not been conclusively proven or refuted?


I removed it. If anyone has any citable information on such a device, post it. Otherwise there's no reason for it to be there. Ziiv 15:16, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Microwave guns

Microwave guns are NOT masers. Thats like calling a HERF gun a laser. Some companies think they can rename stuff to fit their "new" "cool" product but it needs to stop. Masers a hundred year old technology thats a direct prelude to lasers. The only major difference between masers and lasers, is that masers don't lase but they do have a lasing chamber that can get some limited wave form alignment in the beam. So, with that in mind I removed the "aka" reference from the Microwave section.

-MegaBurn

Since when was 1954 a hundred years ago? No, non-specific theoretical calculations do not count. Maury (talk) 21:56, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Move or Delete Pulse rifles

Pulse rifles as defined in the article can include any weapon the fires in pulses. Who ever wrote that doesn't have a clue about modern small arms. Any pistol, sub machine gun, assault rifle, and/or machine gun would qualify as a "pulse rifle" if it includes a burst fire mode. Normally burst fire modes are three shots per pull of the trigger but this is adjustable on some guns or fully programmable on some very high tech weapons (there is an advanced OICW Landwarrior prototype that supports this and Glock has another "digital" weapon that supports it too). The G11 was released to market in the 80's, so this stuff is nothing "new". Very cool stuff but it does not belong in an article about direct energy weapons because it is not a direct energy weapon of any kind. Please move it or delete it.

-MegaBurn

I agree. "Pulse rifle" is just a cool-sounding term that's been tossed into various SF movies and novels. It has no real definition that pertains to directed energy weapons. I've deleted the section (and you could have done that yourself; it's allowed  :-) KarlBunker 21:02, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Relationship to radar

The claim that Radar may be a by-product of this research seems too strong. There's an early overlap of research, for obvious reasons, but it doesn't appear that failed research by Grindell-Matthews or anyone else substantially led to radar.

There is justification that Watson-Watt and Wilkins suggested to the British Air Ministry the use of radio for aircraft detection, after being asked whether a "death ray" was possible and concluding that it was not feasible (see History of_radar#Robert Watson-Watt).

JDX 05:06, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

The statement referenced above has no place in the article. Nothing referenced in the article nor found by myself (admittedly online only) has given any indication that the mention of Grindell-Matthews merits placement in this article. As such I am removing it. If any valid sources become available, preferably ones with more veracity than Grindell-Matthews himself, then of course it could be replaced. His refusal to provide proof, to anyone, of his claims, smacks of a con game. At least IMHO. Statement "Radar may be a by-product of this research" being deleted.Radiooperator 18:25, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ordinary light

Re: 22 June 2006 text restorations

  • Section ==Ordinary light== restored. If non-laser light is used as a weapon, it is an energy weapon.
Can you provide any citation showing a case where a spotlight (or other ordinary directed light) has been used as a weapon? It would be an interesting and worthwhile section to the article if you could.

KarlBunker 10:07, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

That old legend about the Greek solar lens that could set ships on fire? -Toptomcat 20:31, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
See "Mythbusters- Achimides Death Ray" 204.108.193.170 (talk) 17:19, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 July 2006 changes
I've partially restored the section on "Ordinary light" removed by User:KarlBunker and added some substantiation because I think it a useful lead in to the following sections. There are references to the claims which aren't included in the article:

JDX 04:57, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

This subsection has been moved to Dazzler (weapon) and other references to dazzlers, etc removed from the article. This is purely to avoid an edit war with KarlBunker who seems to want a rather narrow definition of the topic. -- JDX 08:48, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I narrowly believe that an article about weapons should confine itself to weapons, and not spin speculation about things that can be used as weapons (which, as you know if you're a Monty Python fan, includes boxes of raspberries). Hopefully you won't run into an equally narrow minded editor over at Dazzler (weapon). --KarlBunker 16:47, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
I strongly disagree and consider (laser and non-laser) dazzlers to be weapons and useful context for the other types. But we're not going to convince each other. The new subsection on "Types" partly addresses my concerns but I'm wondering if it's not better to scrap this entire article and have the general categories listed under Energy weapons and then a separate article for each type: EMP, radio, laser, particle, sonic, mythical, fictional (ie raygun), etc. Does the military have a standard definition for the term? -- JDX 02:08, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tesla 1

I added a quote to the Tesla section about his death ray. I think the section needs to be changed; it is not proven that he was just lying. With his brilliance, it is very possible that he built such a machine. However, I do think it needs to be noted that he placed it next to his pigeons and told visitors there was a very dangerous weapon in the crate. He may have been lying to scare others away from his pigeons, but if you read some of the newspaper articles at the time, you will see that he apparently knows what he is talking about. Such specific mentions, as it involving four new inventions, suggests it is real. If he were to make up such a number, it would surely be divisible by 3, and I think most people realize 4 is not divisible by 3. I think the article should be changed, as there is a possibility that he did do as he said.

[edit] Tesla 2

Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943) was a noted inventor, scientist and electrical engineer. He invented Tesla coils, transformers, alternating current electric generators and was a major early pioneer of radio technology. He was also noted for making some remarkable claims, among them that he had developed what he called a "teleforce" weapon [1] The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. [2] [3] Components included [4][5]:

  1. An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
  2. A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
  3. A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
  4. A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.

Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon between the early 1900s till the time of his death. Records of his device indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following discription concerning the particle gun's operation:

[The nozzel would] "send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks". [6]

The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. [7] Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. [8] He also offered this invention to European countries.[9] None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device.

Various theories persist regarding the nature of this device and the whereabouts of Tesla's complete schematics for it. Immediatly after his death, his effects were confiscated and the room's safe opened. The FBI never found the schematics nor any prototype. The so-called "peace ray" constitues a part of some conspiracy theories as a means of destruction.

  1. ^ "Tesla's Ray". Time, July 23, 1934.
  2. ^ "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, July 11, 1934.
  3. ^ "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, July 10, 1934.
  4. ^ "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, July 11, 1934.
  5. ^ "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
  6. ^ "Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim on 78th Birthday". July 11, 1934.
  7. ^ "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, September 22, 1940.
  8. ^ "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" July 12, 1940
  9. ^ O'Neill, John J., "Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS)

204.56.7.1 17:21, 7 July 2006 (UTC)


Tesla was indeed a noted scientist and inventor; one of the greatest of his time. However, he was somewhat mentally unstable later in his life, and lot of utter and complete nonsense has been written about him, often in response to some of his own absurd claims. You seem to have found most, if not all, of that utter and complete nonsense. Putting it into the article as if it was something other than nonsense is an embarrassment to the article and to Wikipedia--KarlBunker 17:46, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
He was misunderstood later in his life, and some nonsense has been written about him by people unfimiliar with science and his work, often in response to some of his own factual claims. Your uninformed opinion seem to be pushing a POV. Putting in referenced material into the article because it is factual improveds Wikipedia. Your action of pushing a POV and removing information because you do not understand and are in a state of ignorance of the subject is an embarrassment to the article and to Wikipedia. 134.193.168.99 13:56, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't completely agree with the above remark by KarlBunker. As he says, there's a lot of nonsense associated with the subject but it's important to document that lore provided that it's clearly stated which claims are baseless and which can actually be attributed to Tesla and which are myths about the man. The section should be reinstated with minor changes if someone will follow up on the cited references and clearly distinguish real achievements from the (publically reported) myths. Arguably, the material could be moved to the article about Tesla, or at least the link from there to this article should be revised if this section is to remain excised. -- JDX 06:59, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Most of the cited articles can be found @ various places, including tesla.hu (if the site is down [which it does from time to time], check the internet archive). Also Seifer ("Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN 1-559723-29-7 (HC), ISBN 0-806519-60-6 (SC)) has a lot of information on this that can be useful.
The material cannot be moved to the article about Tesla, as that articles is reaching it's maximum (or a Tesla gun article could be made to address this topic more fully). The link from there to this article should be pointed to the right article.
I will get the Seifer book and add more from that text to the article, asap.
134.193.168.99 13:56, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
Do note that in Seifer's index, looking up "Death ray" it states "see particle beam weapon".
Also, O'Neill ( "Prodigal Genius". ISBN 0-914732-33-1 ) and Cheney, ( "Tesla: Man Out of Time", ISBN 0-13-906859-7 ) both also cover this information.
134.193.168.99 14:19, 10 July 2006 (UTC)


134.193.168.99, The fact that you cite sources does not in itself make your additions correct or worthwhile. None of your cited sources are sufficient to justify adding so much material about a directed energy weapon that, in the scientific community, is universally regarded as entirely mythical. My POV is that irrational claims, unsupported by evidence and in apparent defiance of the laws of nature, should not be presented as fact. Present citations of reputable scientists stating a belief that a "tesla gun" is possible, or that document that such a thing has been built and tested, and then you'll have something worthwhile to add to this article. --KarlBunker 14:33, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

The vast majority of the scientific community is ignorant of Tesla's work.

The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natura Media is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade.

Rational claims, supported by evidence and in apparent congurance of the laws of nature, should be presented as fact. This is what Tesla did. The facts support ths. Your uninformed opinion to the contrary is not supported by facts or a NPOV posiion. 134.193.168.99 14:36, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Add to the above biographers, these papers.

  • Corum, J.F. & K.L. Corum, "Critical Speculations Concerning Tesla's Invention and Application of Single Electrode X-Ray Directed Discharges for Power Processing, Terrestrial Resonances and Particle Beam Weapons," special presentation, Colorado Springs, 1986.
  • Corum, J.F., K.L. Corum, and J.F.X. Daum, "Some Thoughts on Tesla's Death Beam," Corum & Associates, 1991.

K.L. Corum is a PHD. Both J.F. & K.L. Corum have written full mathematical papers on Tesla's Works. 134.193.168.99 14:47, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

"The vast majority of the scientific community is ignorant of Tesla's work."
I'm afraid that statement shows a lack of understanding about how science works. Your flood of citations are irrelevant, of no use here, and a waste of space. I suggest that you follow up on your idea of creating a "Tesla gun" article, and put your edits in there. This article, apart from the sections that are specifically describing fiction, is about verifiable facts. --KarlBunker 14:48, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
Do you ignore all the biographers and the material in the Nikola Tesla Museum and the scientific papers? 134.193.168.99 14:55, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

The citations are relevant, of use here, and add valueable space. This is about verifiable facts. Your POV to the contrary. 134.193.168.99

This excision of the Tesla claims also weakens the reference from Raygun to that subsection. I've left the link in for now in the hope that the subsection on unverified Tesla claims will soon be largely restored. -- JDX 02:08, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree with KarlBunker. I find that the article includes "arguments" for some of Tesla's scientifically unsupported claims stated in the article as fact to be very misleading. As someone unfamiliar with Tesla's work and was just reading a few choice articles about him, it is only until you read these discussion pages that there are refutations for some outlandish claims and "facts" in the articles. Treatment of the more outrageous claims as if they were in league with his many notable contributions, and as if there were not largely a consensus among modern scientists as to their improbability, should be cleaned up. As of this post JDX's suggestion to separate myth from man and fact from fiction has not been completed in a clear manner.
I don't suggest getting rid of the claims and myths, they're fun and interesting. I don't think anyone would like to see that. But I suspect the only reason they remain as is is because the user arguing that those claims be treated on the same level in the article, as others more solidly grounded in reality, seems personally offended by the notion that they could possibly be the mere fantasies of a brilliant mind nearing the end. That Tesla manages to convince people like the this user 70 years after his death is testament to his genius to be sure.
But let's get real here, don't let articles about such an important and interesting figure be hijacked by someone who cites outdated material exclusively and merely rephrases his opponents argument and aims it in the opposite direction. Someone whose argumentative skills never made it out of the schoolyard should not be allowed to impose his will after failing to make a valid point. May I suggest some sort of "disputed claims" header or tag? No one writes about the flat earth theory without including that it is false. The more ludicrous claims made by Tesla may be fact, in that they actually were said by him, but that doesn't mean they're any less ludicrous.

- 07:52, 12 April 2007 User:74.98.245.77

[edit] Problems with lasers

I don't have any research, but I speculate that another hypothetical problem with lasers surrounds their stealthyness. A gun barrel could me made longer so that the only people who see the "muzzle flash" (if it can really be called that on a laser) are the ones being shot, but the real problem comes from noise and heat. Since all of the noise will probably come from the flash-evaporation of the target it would be very difficult to suppress the noise without using some hypothetical technology.

The heat could also allow some one with infrared vision to see the beem and follow it back to the person who fired it. I also have to wonder if the heat might linger. If the laser heats the air in it's path enough, then the heat dissipation might be slow enough that some one with an infrared camera could see and follow the trail for quite some time after firing the laser weapon.

For those reasons, a Laser would be undesirable as an infantry weapon atleast. A self-propelled laser Counter Artillary unit could still adapt a sort of shoot & scoot tactic.

I didn't add this to the main article because I don't have any research to back it up, and it's just speculation. If the laser is fired for a short pulse, the heat disipation and tracking problem could be resolved. THe noise problem doesn't give away the position of the person firing it, but it does put other enemy units on alert. The affect of the noise could be lessoned by syncronizing the first volly of fire so that all enemy targets are eliminated simultaniously the way artillary batteries sincronize the times their ordinance strikes their targets. That my not be practical with infantry, and all of it is somewhat theoretical. It needs research to confirm if this actually occurs.

Naturally combat weapons already do create a lot of noise, and tracer rounds reveal the shooters position. The real issue is just to what degree this happens.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 161.242.10.254 (talk • contribs) 20 July 2006.

I do not think that noise will be problem with laser weapons in battlefield conditions. In cases of THEL and COIL the problem will be the ammunition, and in every case the excess heat.

All current lasers have a thermal efficiency below 20%. That means over 80% of the energy is released as a waste heat. Imagine that as a IR target in battlefield conditions!

An example: US military is switching from chemical lasers to solid-state ones because of the ammunition problem. (New Scientist - Issue 26 Aug 2006 [4])

With solid-state lasers the energy needed is generated by the vehicle. M1 Abrams has a gas turbine engine that generates about 1000 kW. The gas turbine itself has a thermal efficiency of ~60%, so the engine running generates about 600 kW waste heat.

Now, if the 1000 kW output is used to fire the laser weapon, the general heat output would be 1400 kW (800 kW from the laser + 600 kW from the turbine).

Use that for 15 minutes and you have one pretty hot tank. -- Talamus 15:56, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lasers do produce a recoil

  • Under Lasers, it is stated that "Lasers do not produce recoil." when in fact they do. 2 simple theorems dictate so. The first is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The transmission of the laser MUST have an equal and opposite reaction, or recoil. Also, light carries some momentum, this means that is has some mass and velocity. If you change the velocity of the mass (as you do with a laser) then you apple some force. If energy is conserved, which it is, then there must be some normalizing force that leave the system in equilibrium, recoil. If you look into Heizenbergs Uncertainty Principle with some attention to detail you will see that we cant dircetly measure electron position and momentum because in measuring one (using light) we have to alter the other. Thus light can add momentum to a particle, meaning it must have momentum as well. However, I will grant any nay-sayers that the effect is nearly negligable and that you would never feel the effect with a typical hand held laser, but there is a great difference between typical hand held lasers and laser weaponary. 17:08, 21 December 2006 User:138.162.5.12
  • Ahem. Light has no mass (check Photon). It would be pretty devastating if that were different, due to relativity (mass increasing with speed, with lim(infinite) at light speed. Light carries no momentum (which is mass * velocity^2, and as we know, x * 0 is 0). The reason that light can change the momentum of a particle is because light carres energy, not momentum. 212.149.48.44 15:54, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
  • Light does have a slight momentum. This, for example, is how pressure of sunlight can push gas and dust out of a comet to make its tail. Anthony Appleyard 05:20, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
  • NON-SENSE! sunlight causes volatiles in the comet to sublime and eject gas and dust from the comet. T.Neo (talk) 15:04, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
  • It amazes me how many people lack an elementary knowledge of modern physics, and yet still post these kinds of comments without bothering to look them up. Anyone who bothers to check a high-school physics book will see that light certainly does carry momentum. Furthermore, radiation pressure and solar wind are responsible for the tail of a comet. If some kind of sublimation pressure were responsible, it would push the gas and dust in all directions equally, rather than producing a distinct tail in one direction (notably, the direction that points directly away from the sun) as actually occurs. Xezlec (talk) 01:23, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
  • actually, photons do have mass, but only in the form of relativistic and not rest mass. because of this, they should not have any inertial momentum, and hence should not have any recoil in the ordinary newtonian sense. (recoil assumes that an obect undergoes acceleration, and photons do not undergo acceleration for the simple reason that it is impossible to accelerate anything into lightspeed unless infinite energy is applied - if that were so, then the recoil energy must be infinite as well). Ischaramoochie (talk) 01:30, 16 January 2008 (UTC)
No, I'm afraid you are wrong. I will say it again: please look it up before you make these kinds of statements. But since no one seems willing to look it up, I will explain in more detail.
"actually, photons do have mass, but only in the form of relativistic and not rest mass."
Just to make sure we're speaking the same language, I will first point out that the word "mass" in normal modern physics usage means rest mass. Otherwise there would be no reason to distinguish between "mass" and "energy" and it would become hard to talk about anything.
"they should not have any inertial momentum, and hence should not have any recoil in the ordinary newtonian sense."
If you mean "if the universe obeyed Newtonian physics then there would be no recoil" then I agree. If you mean "there is no recoil" then I disagree. Photons have momentum whether you believe it or not. The momentum p of a photon is given by the pretty famous formula p = E/c (that would be one of the first formulas you found if you had done a web search, but I digress). You may be thinking of the Newtonian formula for momentum, p = mv, which, of course, is completely wrong at velocities near the speed of light (that's the whole point of relativity, actually). In relativity, the formula for momentum is dilated by the same gamma factor (1 - v^2/c^2)^(-1/2) as all the other quantities, which obviously approaches infinity as v approaches c, mathematically canceling out the effect of the mass going to zero.
"recoil assumes that an obect undergoes acceleration"
No, recoil is the ACT of a massive object "A" undergoing acceleration (receiving momentum) due to imparting momentum upon another (not necessarily massive) object "B". There is no reason that object "B" has to accelerate if it is massless (in fact, if I recall correctly, massless objects can never accelerate or decelerate at all; they are all frozen at c). It just has to receive momentum (which it does when it comes into existence). Xezlec (talk) 05:22, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Phasers

No phasers in the article? How can that be? --Energman 08:42, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Belongs in raygun. 68.36.214.143 (talk) 05:40, 5 January 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Diode Lasers

Please, can someone tell me why these aren't mentioned. They don't use mirrors and are much more effective. Also, I don't believe that they worry so much about blooming. Please add something about diode lasers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Devgil (talk • contribs) 09:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Power levels of existing devices are fairly low, and duty cycles even lower. See HiPER. Definitely something to watch in the future, though. Maury (talk) 21:56, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Is there anything going for D-E weapons?

I'm curious to know something.

This article makes a lot of the problems facing the creators of D-E weapons. With all this in mind, it doesn't look like there's any point in developing them . . unless I've missed something. Regular projectile and explosive weapons seem to have all the destructive potential we need. Is there any reason a commander or soldier (as opposed to a scientist with obsessive/compulsive disorder) would want to have a D-E weapon? What can they do that a regular cannon can't do better? Don't answer me here, put it in the article!Johno 07:14, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

  • The most obvious answer would be far too short to be included in the article. The biggest advantage of energy weapons in general over mass-based weapons in general would be in terms of portability, versatility, and safety. After all, carrying a battery/power pack which could be used to power weapons or other utilities is more convenient that carrying live ammunition. Ischaramoochie (talk) 01:41, 16 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Unlike projectile weapons or bombs, lasers allow soldiers to engage targets instantly (or at the speed of light if you want to be pedantic), with great accuracy, and often at long range. The military currently believes that lasers may be useful in destroying improvised explosive devices; destroying rockets, artillery, and mortar rounds in-flight; destroying man-portable missiles in-flight; and percision engagement of targets in close proximity to non-combatants. [5] Exophthalmos (talk) 21:30, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Readability suggestion - dividing into real world and fictional sections

  • This article would be much easier to digest if it was divided into real world and fictional sections. I understand that this would involve a complete re-write but I think it'd be worth the effort and vastly improve the quality of this article.

--219.163.2.123 (talk) 05:04, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

  • With modern technology the distinction between real and fictional is becoming indefinite. In this article real and fictional are distinguished enough already. Much of the totally fictional stuff has been put in Raygun and Plasma rifle instead of in here. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 05:57, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Star Wars part is wrong

The short part about Star Wars claims that the project was stopped due to political opposition, but the book Voodoo Science, written by one of the participating scientists of the subject, states that the project was scrapped simply because it didn't work.

Any thoughts on this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.248.68.67 (talk) 10:00, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bioeffects

In this field, the Pentagone has recently declassified a ten years old report, you could find it on pdf here:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/files/Bioeffects_of_Selected_Non-Lethal_Weapons.pdf —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.48.228.84 (talk) 19:05, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Particle beams and plasma weapons

I would argue that particle beam weapons and plasma weapons do not fit into the definition stated at the beginning of the article: "a direct-energy weapon(DEW) is a type of weapon which emits energy in an aimed direction without the means of a projectile." Particle beams and plasma weapons do fire projectiles, although the projectiles are small particles or ions. Perhaps the definition of directed-energy weapons should be broadened for this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.111.200.200 (talk) 01:13, 2 March 2008 (UTC)