Boeing Patents Force Field Technology

[NoShoes]

Boeing Patents Force Field Technology

The Force Field Is Strong With This One.

The time of force fields could finally be upon us! Boeing, makers of large aircraft (and also weapons systems and satellites), has received a patent for force field technology used to protect military vehicles in combat-ridden areas.

The technology works like so: an explosion is set off near a vehicle outfitted with the force field technology, sending shockwaves, debris, and all kinds of shrapnel toward the vehicle. The force field technology senses that explosion from the shockwaves emitted and propels lasers in the direction of said explosion. These lasers protect the vehicle by ionizing the air to deflect and absorb some of the intended blast.

Designed originally for use with military vehicles, this technology could also serve well to protect free-standing buildings, military ships, and of course, aircraft (because Boeing). While this technology is not necessarily what we've seen in movies, it's definitely a start to something just as awesome.

What are your thoughts on Boeing holding the patent for this technology?

Source: The Next Web [http://www.themarysue.com/boeing-forcefield/]

Image source: United States Patent and Trademark Office [http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week11/OG/html/1412-3/US08981261-20150317.html]

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[RJ Dalton]

I look forward to the day when defensive technologies become so wide-spread and so efficient that war becomes impossible because nobody can damage anything.

Until then, this is kind of neat.

 

[Shadowsetzer]

I look forward to the day when defensive technologies become so wide-spread and so efficient that war becomes impossible because nobody can damage anything.

Until then, this is kind of neat.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that day. I guarantee that people are already thinking of ways to get through/around this, just as they have for every new defensive technology in history.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

I look forward to the day when defensive technologies become so wide-spread and so efficient that war becomes impossible because nobody can damage anything.

Until then, this is kind of neat.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that day. I guarantee that people are already thinking of ways to get through/around this, just as they have for every new defensive technology in history.

Indeed, Shadowsetzer!
This system can never get as much energy out there in time to protect fully from a really big explosion.
It's currently more a proof of concept than anything else I'd say.

Here's the patent:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week11/OG/html/1412-3/US08981261-20150317.html

If it could currently really block something, there'd be a video, or at least a few facts about how much energy or stuff it can block!

Even if this get's to be a product, what will it do against the inevitable anti-matter anihilation explosions?

 

[SecondPrize]

Okay, now they need to get to work on making the stuff hover, just because.

 

[JenSeven]

Now what we'd need to check is what happens when we fire a laser at it.
If the whole thing goes nuclear then we'll know what universe we're in and we'll need to invest in off-world mining.

 

[RealRT]

Okay, now they need to get to work on making the stuff hover, just because.

Actually doing that would make more sense for Boeing than force fields.

 

[ccggenius12]

So, it's not actually a force field... It's "just" stopping explosions by shooting lasers at them. Call me crazy, but that just sounds way cooler. Presumably these lasers are transparent by default, ideally you'll be able to get them outfitted in a range of designer colors.

 

[raankh]

Well' it's just a combination of point defence systems and reactive armour. Hardly a force field; a 'shield' I can accept, but a counter-explosion (as caused by the laser "ionizing the air") is nothing like the sci-fi concept of a 'force field'.

 

[Made in China]

I look forward to the day when defensive technologies become so wide-spread and so efficient that war becomes impossible because nobody can damage anything.

Until then, this is kind of neat.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that day. I guarantee that people are already thinking of ways to get through/around this, just as they have for every new defensive technology in history.

Indeed, Shadowsetzer!
This system can never get as much energy out there in time to protect fully from a really big explosion.
It's currently more a proof of concept than anything else I'd say.

Here's the patent:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week11/OG/html/1412-3/US08981261-20150317.html

If it could currently really block something, there'd be a video, or at least a few facts about how much energy or stuff it can block!

Even if this get's to be a product, what will it do against the inevitable anti-matter anihilation explosions?

The problem doesn't just lie with being able to repel a big explosion, it's also because waves travel in every direction.
Let's say they can generate enough power to ionize the air and create the shockwave (similar to a thunderbolt). The force of impact from that shockwave will hit the apparatus harder than it will hit the object flying towards it - meaning the mass of what you're trying to defend must be significantly larger than the thing you're trying to defend against. This works pretty well for small projectiles.
This wouldn't work, however, for explosions. The shockwave you generate will have a stronger impact than the shockwave you're trying to defend against.
This also wouldn't work with large debris flying towards you, let's say a plane flying towards a building. The amount of distance you fling it away from you, you will be flung the other way relative to your mass - and will cause the building to sway violently, bend or even break.

I can only see it having some use in trying to protect combat vehicles, as their mass greatly outweighs most projectiles. It wouldn't counter a collision with a similar vehicle, but it would counter, say, a shell, rocket or missile directed at it. The problem is with its detection - currently, it will only trigger if such projectile exploded some distance from the vehicle, which in most cases would be a miss.

Not to mention, there are better kinetic and directed laser solutions that already handle it pretty well - so its usefulness comes in doubt. I don't think it would be adopted by anyone other than Boeing.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

Oh goody another patent granted over a drawing rather than a working system so now when a company actually does have working force field tech in a century or two Boeing gets an easy payday.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

So, it's not actually a force field... It's "just" stopping explosions by shooting lasers at them. Call me crazy, but that just sounds way cooler. Presumably these lasers are transparent by default, ideally you'll be able to get them outfitted in a range of designer colors.

Well' it's just a combination of point defence systems and reactive armour. Hardly a force field; a 'shield' I can accept, but a counter-explosion (as caused by the laser "ionizing the air") is nothing like the sci-fi concept of a 'force field'.

For more traditional versions of force-fields may I point you towards the magnetic fields which have been developed in the UK over the last <a href=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7487740/Star-Trek-style-force-field-armour-being-developed-by-military-scientists.html>~4-5 years. Although the article's references to sci-fi culture as a way to explain the principles to laymen are fairly cringe-worthy the science behind the technology is sound and in five years you can bet your bottom dollar the project has advanced some.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

I look forward to the day when defensive technologies become so wide-spread and so efficient that war becomes impossible because nobody can damage anything.

Yeah, it'll be like those shounen manga and super hero movies where there's nothing actually hard enough to do any damage to the characters and flying through several brick walls has the same effect as a crash mat.

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

Okay, now they need to get to work on making the stuff hover, just because.

Now what we'd need to check is what happens when we fire a laser at it.
If the whole thing goes nuclear then we'll know what universe we're in and we'll need to invest in off-world mining.

First, we'd have to check how we can build a spacefolder (a.k.a. warp drive) with it. We could even use our current computers for astrogation.

For now.

 

[ND]

Okay, now they need to get to work on making the stuff hover, just because.

Now what we'd need to check is what happens when we fire a laser at it.
If the whole thing goes nuclear then we'll know what universe we're in and we'll need to invest in off-world mining.

First, we'd have to check how we can build a spacefolder (a.k.a. warp drive) with it. We could even use our current computers for astrogation.

For now.

We should also start practicing our knife fighting techniques in readiness for when these things become small enough to wear. Bullets and explosives would be useless then but a knife? That should be slow enough to get through the projected field.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Now we need to audit Boeing's internal company memos, to see if any of them are titled "To Serve Man."

 

[gridsleep]

The Navy has been researching the use of particle beam weapons for ship defence for perhaps twenty-five years now, at least. They have plans for shipboard turrets using rapidly spinning mirrors to target hundreds of incoming unfriendlies per second at ranges of thousands of meters. Getting this technology down to a size usable on a passenger car is just a matter of Moore's Law. Boeing has done nothing revolutionary. Remember, anything released to the public by the military is either subterfuge, misinformation, obfuscation, or such plain old hat as to present no threat if exposed.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Considering the work in electromagnetic fields, and cold plasma fields this is less of a force field and more of a counter wave defence against most shrapnel.

Anyways by the time anything like this is portable by humans we'll probably be fighting with energy weapons which render such systems moot.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Lockheed Martin: Good news everybody! We think we've discovered the secret of cold fusion!
Boeing: Great! It can power our f***ing forcefield! It's the future, bitches!