A Weapon more destructive than "the bomb"?

[TSARBomba91]

Is there a weapon created by man that is more powerful than the nuclear bomb? Will we ever create something that surpasses the destruction of nuclear weapons?

 

[TSARBomba91]

Non biological. It has to be man made.

 

[TSARBomba91]

Sorry I thought you meant biological like a neurotoxin or pathogen I wasn't being that specific. Why not both then, they don't have to exist yet they can experiments and theories but have to made by man.

 

[TSARBomba91]

I wasn't thinking that deep about it.

Lets go with both or complete total annihilation.

 

[DirtyDevil69]

Laser Weaponry

 

[jayfeather31]

Laser Weaponry

Lasers are billions of times less powerful than the detonation of a nuclear bomb, and never will reach anywhere near their destructive forces.

That's actually quite true. The even bigger problem with lasers is that we haven't gotten to the stage where you can put that diamond-cutting laser technology into a form where it could be fired like a gun. At the current moment it takes an entire room to do it, let alone something like an M4A1 Carbine. For a weapon that is more destructive or rather, has the potential to be more destructive, just take a look at thermobaric weaponry, other wise known as a fuel air bomb. Many of these bombs are currently being used to replace the current tactical nukes we have. Another one might be one we already have, white phosphorus. Even in its current form the effects are disastrous. In a nuclear blast, its just one second and you're gone. In a white phosphorus attack, you're burned alive, and if you survive, the effects will be long-lasting. It might not be as powerful but white phosphorus does not offer the comfort of a quick death, and as a result, has a bigger effect on the psyche. There's a reason why torture is viewed is dismay, as you are giving the person a slow, painful death.

 

[DirtyDevil69]

Actually the United States has created Laser Weaponry and will be implemented into the US naval ships by the year 2016 as Anti-Missile weaponry. It costs a few billion to build, 1 dollar to fire the shot. Its extreme heat which causes the missile to explode due to the heat.

 

[jayfeather31]

Actually the United States has created Laser Weaponry and will be implemented into the US naval ships by the year 2016 as Anti-Missile weaponry. It costs a few billion to build, 1 dollar to fire the shot. Its extreme heat which causes the missile to explode due to the heat.

Yes... but keep in mind these are being put into ships mind you, not guns. Plus, laser weaponry is not being used on a large scale yet, due to the size needed in order to fire such a laser. However I do find it rather interesting that they've lowered the size down to where it can be fired as an anti-missile weapon, considering how long the technology has been around. Might not be long before we see an even smaller version, maybe used on the tops of trucks, and eventually, in a form of a gun. Although... that also means the defenses against it will also improve in turn.

 

[jayfeather31]

Correct. And the yields are super low. To knock something out of the air, you dont need much.

You've got that right, I mean... we just have wind taking down huge aircraft, leading to hundreds of deaths. Just offset the trajectory of something by as much as (and I'm not kidding) .1 degrees, and you can find your missile you sent not hitting a ship but your own ship! :lol:

 

[Wolfsrain]

Actually the United States has created Laser Weaponry and will be implemented into the US naval ships by the year 2016 as Anti-Missile weaponry. It costs a few billion to build, 1 dollar to fire the shot. Its extreme heat which causes the missile to explode due to the heat.

The U.S. Navy has deployed on a command ship in the Persian Gulf its first laser weapon capable of destroying a target.
The amphibious transport ship USS Ponce has been patrolling with a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System since late August, according to officials. The laser is mounted facing the bow, and can be fired in several modes -- from a dazzling warning flash to a destructive beam -- and can set a drone or small boat on fire.

I came across this and remembered this post.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-14/u-s-navy-deploys-its-first-laser-weapon-in-the-persian-gulf.html

 

[jayfeather31]

Actually the United States has created Laser Weaponry and will be implemented into the US naval ships by the year 2016 as Anti-Missile weaponry. It costs a few billion to build, 1 dollar to fire the shot. Its extreme heat which causes the missile to explode due to the heat.

The U.S. Navy has deployed on a command ship in the Persian Gulf its first laser weapon capable of destroying a target.
The amphibious transport ship USS Ponce has been patrolling with a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System since late August, according to officials. The laser is mounted facing the bow, and can be fired in several modes -- from a dazzling warning flash to a destructive beam -- and can set a drone or small boat on fire.

I came across this and remembered this post.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-14/u-s-navy-deploys-its-first-laser-weapon-in-the-persian-gulf.html

Huh. Quite interesting that lasers are being used in a form as a weapon. We haven't really gotten to the point where it can be used in the form of a gun, but we're getting there.

 

[DirtyDevil69]

shall i repeat it? laser weaponry is more capable then a missile. It cant be shot down, a missile can, it cant be seen, a missile can be seen, missiles are expensive per shot, lasers only cost 1 US dollar per shot.

 

[jayfeather31]

But laser weaponry will never be as effective or destructive. The yields are just infinitesimally low. Kilowatts not even tonnes.

Right. Unless you can somehow manage to concentrate so much energy into a massive source (which in itself would be a dangerous task), you're not going to see much destructive capacity.

 

[DEFCON Warning System]

But laser weaponry will never be as effective or destructive. The yields are just infinitesimally low. Kilowatts not even tonnes.

For now. I hate using words like "never" when it comes to weaponry.

 

[jayfeather31]

But laser weaponry will never be as effective or destructive. The yields are just infinitesimally low. Kilowatts not even tonnes.

For now. I hate using words like "never" when it comes to weaponry.

Yeah... you're right. As history tells us, we really don't know our limits.
Just look at the atomic bomb. Two-hundred years previously, they would've never thought it possible.

 

[Upshot]

How did I miss the future weapons thread?
Lasers are coming(weapon grade), no doubt, but are not the first choice for breaking stuff and hurting people on a large scale. Great for zapping warheads and such like in a point defence role, but absorption/diffraction will limit range in an atmosphere.
Its actually difficult to build a deliverable weapon a lot more destructive than an H-bomb- nuclear initiated fusion. In theory, a pure fusion weapon is possible. If we lived on the moon, we could make Helium3 pure fusion bombs. Helium3 will fuse at very low temps and pressures. The primary could conceivably be purely convention explosives. The thing with a big H-bomb is most of the energy is 'wasted' , it goes straight up. Which is why nobody bothers much with weapons larger than a megaton any more.
So you need to go really big...
The Dr Strangelove dooms day bomb- an enormous multi secondary stage 'dirty' H-bomb fixed in pace, salted with radiation and fallout enhanced good stuff-cobalt, iodine, thorium, whatever.
or
Antimatter- long time off, that one.
Create a 'bosson'- a big bang particle. Place near universe you want to double tap. Pow! God like abilities needed for that one
Orbital kinetic. That one, we can do.
Round up a good sized asteroid, preferably nickel-iron, though a chondrite would be easier to move with a remotely deployed and operated mass driver.
Drop asteroid on planet you want reduced to produce.
Crack a cervesa , 420 up and watch their world end.
Buwahahahah! I should have been a mad scientist, or a super villain!

'...So it's a doomsday device you want? Now the balls in Farnsworth's court!...'

 

[DirtyDevil69]

Yes, Lasers are weak at the moment and aren't as strong as a single missile, but when we make them more portable, imagine, say 100 Lasers firing at 1 target at once, unstoppable lasers, while you have a Stationed Laser, Thats shooting down the enemy missiles.

 

[Upshot]

For the foreseeable future, I can see HEL's supplementing or supplanting CIWIS systems and other point defence. I rather thought the centurion phalanx counter mortar would be an obvious application, though the power throughput needs to go up. The HEL CIWIS the USN has running trials on a DDG still takes a couple of seconds to fry a target. Have to get the throughput up into the Petawatt power range, give a good couple hundred pounds HE equivalent on the target in a tenth second. Then its like starwars and stuff blows up, rather than heating/melting.
How about the orbiting 'rods of god' concept from the '70's(Jerry Pournelle/Boeing). Orbiting platforms with a bundle of solid rocket steered/boosted, terminal homing(MMW? LIDAR?) 15 ft long tungsten crowbars. Targeting by drone or GPS for fixed sites, have enough in inclined polar orbits to cover any spot on the globe with a 30 minute targeting to impact cycle, thirty or forty rods on each orbiting bus. 1000-odd lbs each, moving at M=24+. It would look like the space opera deathray strike, streaks of lightning, ripping thunder, the sky lighting up, even at high noon. Punch through ninety ft of steel and concrete, or deck to keel of any warship or fighting vehicle.
The target effects would be equivalent to a few thousand lb bomb.
Imagine 2 or three buses laying in a ninety round time on target.
That would for sure leave a crease in your 'tude.
Here you have a system that could perform any kind of interdiction, battlefield attack, strategic strike, counter-silo, decapitation, sea control or camel-busting.
With no nuclear material or war head of any sort, enabling precision hard target kill with very low collateral damage potential and no UXB. Also no bases overseas, no overflight worries, and the recce UCAV's could be deployed via the Ohio SSGN's.
Survivable, devastating, overwhelming, un-interceptable. Very cheap. Rapid targeting cycle any where on the planet in 30 minutes. No aircrew hostages or downed expensive B-2's.
No exotic technology or X-technology, damned few moving parts or expensive manufacturing. In fact, this is all doable out of off the shelf hardware.
I guess that's just not as sexy as praying one of your 3/4 billion clam F-22's doesn't get zapped and the pilot beheaded while its out dropping bombs on goats and pick-up trucks, or the zong's get lucky and bang a carrier with a DF-21 :roll: