Lightning Gun Company Expands!

Ionatron, the lightning gun company that the DANGER ROOM has frequently covered, isn't throwing in the towel. Yes, it's true that many, many, many millions of dollars later, we still don't see any fieldable lightning gun, but that doesn't seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm: the company today announced plans to expand to St. Louis.

As a refresher: Ionatron has garnered lots of public investment and congressional earmarks by promising a futuristic lightning gun that combines ultrashort pulse lasers with a high-voltage discharge. Most recently, Noah wrote earlier this week about another $10 million that was added to the company's coffers, complements of the U.S. Navy.

If you read between the lines of today's release, it looks like an attempt by the company to diversify into other laser applications, which, in fact, is probably a really smart move (especially because the apocryphal lightning gun is nowhere in sight):

*Ionatron’s Laser Group (“ILG”) will be located in St. Louis, Missouri, and has been staffed by an experienced team of engineers and technicians with expertise in the design, engineering and production of compact, rugged, lightweight, and highly efficient advanced solid state lasers, and in the special requirements for qualification of lasers for military and aerospace missions. The focus of the organization will be in engineering Ionatron’s unique laser technologies for military customers, developing new applications for these laser technologies, and in executing other defense and aerospace laser program opportunities. *

*The ILG team consists of a core of experts in military laser design with experience from a variety of notable military and spaceborne laser programs. These include space-launched laser radar transmitters for several Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”) experiments, the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter (MOLA) transmitter designed to map the surface of Mars, and several military laser rangefinder/target designators and electro-optic countermeasure (EOCM) transmitters. More recently, these individuals have developed high performance laser transmitters for laser bathymetery and other laser radar systems. *

I actually think Ionatron could make a decent business in niche laser applications, though it'll be interesting to see whether this news inspires their shareholders, who are still waiting for the lightning gun.

Final note to Ionatron: Not such a good idea to promote your staff's experience on the Strategic Defense Initiative, aka Star Wars. Shareholders might remember what happened to that program.