The Most Famous Weapon Of Science Fiction Is Rapidly Becoming Fact

The military’s “active denial system” is capable of throwing a beam of invisible heat at unruly targets, heating their skin and making them scatter. (Photo: Department of Defense)

Sci-Fi Ray Gun Debuts in Iraq -- New York Times

I tremble to type this, but here goes: The ray gun has finally become a reality.

At least that’s what the Economist reports. It says a “directed-energy weapon” named Zeus (presumably because of his fondness for hurling lightning bolts) has been deployed in the back of a Humvee in Iraq. It’s being tested by soldiers who are using its laser beam to detonate roadside bombs from a safe distance of 300 meters.

This is astonishing news, at least to those of us who have been following the ray gun’s history since it was popularized by H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, “The War of the Worlds.” From the ray guns of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon to the phasers and blasters of “Star Trek” and “Star Wars,” the weaponry of the future was conspicuously bullet-free. Among futurists purporting to be writing non-fiction, ray-gun technology always seemed to be just around the corner without ever arriving.

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