Air Borne Laser is Almost Operational

"Dave Kearton" wrote in message
.. .
Square Wheels wrote:
On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:46:43 +0000, Square Wheels wrote:

Shunkworks

I really typed that, didn't I?

Let's try Skunkworks instead.....



What's worse is that we all read 'Skunkworks'.

So true. Am I supposed to blush now that you've caught me?

Ron
--
Non urinat in ventum

"HEMI-Powered" wrote in message
...
Alan Erskine added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

I just received this, and NO source was cited, so I can't
verify it at all, but it is interesting -- SW
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```

The industry Airborne Laser (ABL) team has installed all six
Chemical
Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) modules aboard the prototype
aircraft providing its full megawatt-class power laser beam.

There's a big difference between "operational" and
"prototype". Operations are five or more years away, if ever.

True, true, true. But, at one time, people said your blood would
boil if you went 60 mph in a car. And, prior to Chuck Yeager in
1947, people believed that the speed of sound was a barrier that
couldn't be crossed. Someday, the speed of light will be exceeded,
it just can't be as simple as Einstein made it out to be. So, maybe
5, maybe 20 years but I would certainly believe that ABL or
something like it could be an operational weapon. Unless you
believe in UFOs ...

--
HP, aka Jerry


I thought believing in UFOs would make "Star Wars" stuff seem *more*
promising...

Peter

"Surely you can't be serious! And don't call me Shirley!" - from
the movie "Airplane!"

"Neil Hoskins" wrote in
news

"Square Wheels"
wrote in message news:yuhBj.68009$w94.42702@pd7urf2no...

"...each the size of "a Mini Cooper automobile," and now are ready..."

Is that the original Mini Cooper S, which was a mini car, or the
laughingly named BMW Mini Cooper, which is the size of a small house?

I long for a simpler day when everything could be compared to a football
field or a VW Bug...

Bob Harrington wrote:
"Neil Hoskins" wrote in
news

"Square Wheels"
wrote in message news:yuhBj.68009$w94.42702@pd7urf2no...

"...each the size of "a Mini Cooper automobile," and now are
ready..."

Is that the original Mini Cooper S, which was a mini car, or the
laughingly named BMW Mini Cooper, which is the size of a small
house?

I long for a simpler day when everything could be compared to a
football field or a VW Bug...


Hey, it's still the same football field, only now it's metric.




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

"Dave Kearton" wrote in message
.. .
Bob Harrington wrote:
"Neil Hoskins" wrote in
news

"Square Wheels"
wrote in message news:yuhBj.68009$w94.42702@pd7urf2no...

"...each the size of "a Mini Cooper automobile," and now are
ready..."

Is that the original Mini Cooper S, which was a mini car, or the
laughingly named BMW Mini Cooper, which is the size of a small
house?

I long for a simpler day when everything could be compared to a
football field or a VW Bug...


Hey, it's still the same football field, only now it's metric.

Not in North America. NFL fields are still 100 yards from goal line to goal
line, and 53.33 yards from side line to side line
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America..._and_players); CFL
fields, 110 and 65 yards
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...all_field.png).
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)

Andrew Chaplin wrote:
"Dave Kearton" wrote in message


Hey, it's still the same football field, only now it's metric.

Not in North America. NFL fields are still 100 yards from goal line
to goal line, and 53.33 yards from side line to side line
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America..._and_players);
CFL fields, 110 and 65 yards
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...all_field.png).
--
Andrew Chaplin


heavy sigh I know, it was only wishful thinking....



Went to the hardware store last weekend, needing a handful of bolts - at
least 65mm long before the thread starts.


The only brand they had were 'Zenith' and they were in inches. I
suspected that 2 3/4" would do the trick, head scratching didn't help and
had to find a steel ruler to confirm it.



I realised the US would probably never fully accept metrification when I saw
Spock on Star Trek refer to a new M-class planet they were orbiting -
reading out it's mass in "metric tons...."




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

"Bob Harrington" wrote in message
...


I long for a simpler day when everything could be compared to a football
field or a VW Bug...

Ah yes. Or if you work in microelectronics, you can forget about thou, mil,
microns, or nanometers, because as far as the popular press is concerned,
everything is measured in units of 'the thickness of a human hair'.

Neil Hoskins wrote:
"Bob Harrington" wrote in message
...


I long for a simpler day when everything could be compared to a
football field or a VW Bug...

Ah yes. Or if you work in microelectronics, you can forget about
thou, mil, microns, or nanometers, because as far as the popular
press is concerned, everything is measured in units of 'the
thickness of a human hair'.


Or the engineering adaptation of the hair measurement, the 'BCH'.



--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:35:48 +0000, Neil Hoskins wrote:


"Bob Harrington" wrote in message
...


I long for a simpler day when everything could be compared to a football
field or a VW Bug...

Ah yes. Or if you work in microelectronics, you can forget about thou, mil,
microns, or nanometers, because as far as the popular press is concerned,
everything is measured in units of 'the thickness of a human hair'.

"I think my hair is thinning....."

"Well, who wants fat hair?"

-- Spike Jones routine

Jumpin Jahosaphat wrote:
On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:34:28 +1030, Dave Kearton wrote:

Neil Hoskins wrote:
"Bob Harrington" wrote in message
...


I long for a simpler day when everything could be compared to a
football field or a VW Bug...

Ah yes. Or if you work in microelectronics, you can forget about
thou, mil, microns, or nanometers, because as far as the popular
press is concerned, everything is measured in units of 'the
thickness of a human hair'.


Or the engineering adaptation of the hair measurement, the 'BCH'.

No that's RCH (or Royal)



You obviously have a higher security clearance than me.




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton