At The Motley Fool, we've made no secret of our love of lasers. And while we've previously sung the praises of Motley Fool Hidden Gems pick Rofin-Sinar (Nasdaq: RSTI), or Motley Fool Rule Breakers selection IPG Photonics (Nasdaq: IPGP), they admittedly use lasers for boring stuff like welding metal and etching computer chips. When do we get to see lasers blow stuff up?
Applied Energetics
may be shopping around a low-rent version, but at last, I've found a bona fide ray-gun shop for laser-happy investors. It's a name you may have heard before: Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC).
Zzzzap!
Earlier this month, Northrop issued a progress report on its new "solid-state laser." By merging two "laser chains," Northrop demonstrated a 30 kW weapon, and it's progressing toward the military's goal of a 100 kW weapon. Furthermore, Northrop achieved better than 19% electrical-to-optical efficiency in the weapon. We can use kilowattage and efficiency figures like those to track Northrop's progress toward its goal: "electrically powered, operationally scalable and affordable laser weapons for U.S. military services."
Yesterday brought the most recent progress report, as Northrop announced the delivery of a working prototype of such a weapon, a "15kW high-power, solid-state laser" called the "Vesta II," to the U.S. Air Force. Admittedly, it's not much to look at -- to me, it resembles a circa-1980s VCR. But it might be the first step toward an honest-to-goodness ray gun capable of shooting down "rockets, missiles, artillery and mortars."
Between Northrop's solid-state work on the Vesta II, and its integral role -- in cooperation with Boeing (NYSE: BA), Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) -- in developing the airborne Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser, Northrop is fast becoming the go-to company for military lasers.
Keep an eye on this one, Fools. Northrop is going places ... and doing its darnedest to render gunpowder a 20th-century technology.
Shining more light on military lasers:
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