Fridge-sized war raygun for US bombers gets $40m

A long-running US military project aimed at producing a "refrigerator sized" laser raygun capable of being mounted on US combat aircraft has received further funding of just under $40m.

In a federal announcement issued on Tuesday, famous crazytech company General Atomics was awarded a $39,833,499 contract for "High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS) Phase 4, Demonstration Laser Weapon System".

The money comes, of course, from DARPA: the US government boffins most likely to mutter things like "They said I was mad – MAAD. Me!"... "Narrow-minded, blinkered fools!" and "You'll all be very sorry".

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