George Lucas have imagined laser being the weapons of choice for advanced civilizations in the galaxy far, far away, but in reality, laser shooting guns are, up to today, stuff of fantasy. Well, not anymore. Meet the ZKZM-500 Laser Assault Rifle, China’s very own AK-47 assault rifle-size laser shooter that is capable of hitting targets as far as 800 meters (half a mile) away. However, this weapon does not emit laser like you saw in the movies.
It is completely silence and invisible the naked eyes, and it certainly won’t make holes either. So, no. There are no red streaks and no pew, pew, pew. Instead, it can ignite flammable objects and inflict “instant carbonization” when land on human skin. Now, if you think a laser landing on your skin would be like strong LED light hitting on you at point blank range (read: warm), then you couldn’t be more wrong. It is far worst, apparently.
The laser coming out of this Starship Troopers-like weapon is no Class I laser. It ain’t no laser pointer either. When it lands on your skin, it will result in “pain beyond endurance,” one researcher told South China Morning Post. If there’s clothing in the way, the laser will simply burn through it and eventually hitting the naked body parts. If the target is wearing flammable clothing, he or she will simply go up in flame. Yikes. That sure sounds like a terrible way to die.
While the ZKZM-500 may be high-tech, it is surprisingly affordable, going at just 100,000 yuan a piece (about US$15,000). Despite its “reasonable” price, you won’t be seeing regular people arming themselves this weapon because, the only customers will be military and law enforcement agencies (and I count that as a good thing!).
While the ZKZM-500 needs no ammunition like conventional slug-shooting varieties, it does need to be recharged. The lithium battery that powers it is good for over a thousand laser bursts, each lasting around two seconds. Though it is not known how long it needs to be charged to full and if the battery pack is removable like magazine clips.
Image and source: Gizmodo.
