Boeing Files Patent for Star Wars-Type Force Field
Space ships that appear in Star Wars movies famously utilize non-material force shields to deflect laser blasts from other ships. Recently, Boeing filed a patent for a military vehicle shield that would work much the same way: not visible to the naked eye and capable of deflecting other non-material forces. The patent calls for “[a] method and system for attenuating a shockwave propagating through a first medium by heating a selected region of the first fluid medium rapidly to create a second, transient medium that intercepts the shockwave and attenuates its energy density before it reaches a protected asset.”
Essentially, the shield would involve a sensor attached to a military vehicle that would detect shockwaves in the immediate area, possibly caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The shield would then superheat the area around the vehicle in the direction of the shockwave. The resulting heated medium would then redirect the shockwave.
Unlike the shields that appear in Star Wars, however, these proposed shields would not have the ability to redirect material objects such as bullets or missiles. And they would not be constantly “active.” However, such a shield would still be very useful because IED attacks and resulting injuries are increasing.
The patent is broadly constructed, and Boeing hasn’t actually produced the shield yet. But with each passing decade, military technology seems like its catching up with the kind that might have existed a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Sources: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/03/29/boeing-creates-forcefield/70650420/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2015/03/25/force-fields-could-be-the-next-big-battlefield-innovation/ http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8981261.PN.&OS=PN/8981261&RS=PN/8981261
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