Laser cannon
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
A laser cannon is a large laser device, used as a weapon aboard spacecraft and other installations or as ground artillery.
The Federation and many other cultures in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants seemed to have abandoned military use of laser technology in the mid-23rd century. Lysian Central Command, considered technologically to be a hundred years behind the Federation, was armed with four laser cannons as late as 2368. (TNG: "Conundrum")
Starfleet's surface-deployable laser cannons, that utilize energy transfered from a starhip in orbit, illustrate the late maturity of the technology. Showing a clear design lineage, late-model Starfleet cannons differed little in structure and scale from the industrial lasers used in mining operations as far back as 2155. (TOS: "The Cage", "Where No Man Has Gone Before"; ENT: "Demons")
- It should be noted that the devices in "The Cage" and "Demons" were never mentioned on-screen to be laser cannons. In fact the first draft outline of "The Cage" calls the device as one of the vessel's huge matter-converters; focusing it's conversion on the rock, instread of a laser beam. The term laser cannon however began to be used soon after by Gene Roddenberry and production staff.
By the 24th century, a few races still used basic ship-board laser weaponry, including:
- the Straleb (TNG: "The Outrageous Okona")
- the Altec (TNG: "The Outrageous Okona")
- the Lysian Alliance (TNG: "Conundrum")
| Laser technology |
|---|
| Tools: autosuture • bone-knitting laser • laser beacon • laser cannon • laser drill • laser scalpel • laser scanner • laser torch • laser welder • microscope laser • miniature laser • nanopulse laser • tri-laser connector |
| Weapons: Artonian laser • laser cannon • laser detonator • laser pistol • pulse laser • x-ray laser |
| Other: laser fusion initiator • laser micrometer • LIDAR • optic nerve laser welding |
