Ship-Mounted Laser Weapon Torches Enemies a Mile Away

[Endocrom]

Archimedes would be brought to tears.

In fact, they NEED to call this system The Archimedes.

you can just point the weapon, pull the trigger, and whatever's at the other end dies horribly.

Tell that to the scientists that developed it, that crew that maintains the very sensitive components that keep it steady, and programmers that make it all work together.

 

[Neonit]

so... a simple mirror is all that it takes to defeat u.s. navy? im sure someone would be interested in that kind of information..... muahahhAHAHAHAH!

 

[Bobbity]

Do people just look at Sci-Fi and say to themselves "You know what? F*** it, that looks like it might work and I've got nothing better to do, let's go round up the tech boys and have at it".

Certainly seems like it, thesedays

OT: Laser weapons mounted on ships? It feels more like the future every day. Now we just need to get NASA in on this, and we really will be living in the future

 

[DanDeFool]

Archimedes would be brought to tears.

In fact, they NEED to call this system The Archimedes.

you can just point the weapon, pull the trigger, and whatever's at the other end dies horribly.

Tell that to the scientists that developed it, that crew that maintains the very sensitive components that keep it steady, and programmers that make it all work together.

Well, yes, it's complex and difficult to maintain now. But continued development into energy weapons will probably result in a significantly more compact systems in the future. And you can bet the military doesn't want to have to cart around a team of civilian scientists to run their weapons; the systems will have to become easier to use.

I guess the best we can hope for is that laser weapons will never practical or cost-effective.

 

[Tdc2182]

As long as it's made by the lowest bidder, what can go wrong?


0:18, 0:43, 0:47, 1:00, 1:11, 1:43, 1:48, 2:12, 2:25, 2:33, 3:15,

You're missing the point.

They were all having fun while the highly explosive weapons misfired. And that's what really counts.

 

[Asehujiko]

Running out of ammo is unheard of in the Navy.

Ammo is heavy and expensive, as well as being wasteful, since the materials used to create it end up wherever they land. A projectile also travels a lot slower than a laser does, which makes a significant difference against fast-moving targets, like missiles and jets. The weaponized laser project is primarily intended as a missile defense system and anti-aircraft weapon.

Of course, once it can take out a jet there's no reason why it can't target other ships as well, if necessary.

Even then, this thing's theoretical maximum range is shorter then some ships present at the battle of Jutland and when doing anything that isn't plinking at insurgents in rowboat, that's going to be crippling.

 

[geldonyetich]

I wouldn't want to be a Polynesian pirate right now.

I totally called it [http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/55379-report-us-navy-could-deploy-laser-against-somali-pirates].

 

[AmbitiousWorm]

Interesting video.

However why would they test it on a brand new zodiac with 2 brand new 200s on it? Thats probably $30000 for just the engines. Couldn't they use an old tin boat with a 12hp on it?

I want a bloated military budget to play with.


I get it when compared with billion dollar lazers its peanuts but still that is a sweet boat to be shooting at. And laser should always, ALWAYS, be spelled lazer. And don't start a sentence with and.

 

[perian]

Might want to edit the post to conform with the 20 feet, not 2000 feet per second from wired's danger room. You're citing it after all.

Still, 20 feet per second will probably get through enough armour to sink a ship in say....a second.

 

[Hypertion]

there is something else besides missiles that this development would effectivly shut down if implementated sucessfully. the current Airpower mindstate of the millitary.

If a missile can be shot down so can planes. the sucessful Employment of Anti-Air Laser systems would see a battlefield shift back down the States we saw before major Aircraft development. A Military Base outfitted with a Laser Based Anti-air defense system and the presence of Anti-Air lasers on Water Craft would bring back the heavy use of Artillary that existed before Air Bombing was the norm. The reason the battle ship was Phased out was Airpower was more effective. However a Battlefleet with High Effect Laser Anti-Air would return long range bombardment to the role of the Long range Cannons.

if a war broke out in the near future and one nation has perfected a AA laser the US would be effectivly powerless. As isolated as we are we have found ourselfs so focused on airpower that in A real conflict we would send in the bombers LONG before landing.

The reason for the current mindset that relys on Airpower is that while a fighter jet is small and quite easy to destroy with a weapon... they are small fast and extremely hard to hit with conventional weapons. A Bullet fired from the ground will likley never hit its intended target for several reasons. First and the greatist problem is SPEED. Most Jets fly faster than the speed of sound these days, A bullet rarly breaks the sound barrier. A jet with a Air-to-Ground Bunker Buster can Quite easly destroy any ground target with impuity. Current Surface-To-Air Missile tech is extremely limited in use and while Effective enough simply cant cope with Large Scale assults. Additonaly its proved possible to trick SAMs to be almost completly ineffecive as Tech to improve them is constantly met with Tech to counter them. Large Bombers that are not as hard to hit and dont have the options to simply avoid magic-following-firestick are somewhat able to avoid most current countermeasures simply due to how high they can fly.

Add a Effective AA-Laser to this. Lasers move at the speed of light and seeing as how science is saying nothing can move faster than light, theres no way something that can at most move at 5x the speed of sound can go faster. Without having to calculate anything beyond making the weapon point at its target its EXTREMELY EASY to hit objects at INSANE DISTANCES. its fact that we could shoot things on the moon if the laser could get through the atmosphere without losing energy. All this means that a effective laser system with at least 10 miles and enough power could shoot down anything it can be pointed at with ease. in fact with a fast enough target system a single well placed laser could create a "no fly" zone where no matter what you threw at would be shutdown the moment it got in range. this means that even long range missiles launched by planes would suffer and only high alt bombing would have any chance. But Since AirCraft themselfs cant shoot down missiles, only redirect them. A simple Missile system to destroy those using ground based targeting and tracking would make Air attacks of any type simple a waste of money.

the ultmate result of the shutting down of the skys would completly change how wars are won. Gone would be mass bombing. Welcomed back would be the invention of long range high speed projectile Explosive weapons like the Morter. Ground assults would suddenly become the only way attack any Advanced enough nation. all this meaning even greater cost of life for the poor common guy on foot with no more helpful eyes above who can also drop firey death on those below. Return we would to the days of Landing on beaches with battleships hitting targest as far in shore as their guns allow.



--------------------------------------------- For THOSE WHO FEAR THE TEXT BLOCK OF DEATH



If your attention span was too short to read my text block of death. heres a quick summary.

Short term Laser weapons would effectivly destroy one arm of the millitary. As lasers could potentially be the most effective anti-air weapon to ever exist.

Why? simple. Planes are fragile. Burn a hole in a wing and set the fuel on fire and Boom... no more plane... Lasers are good and burning holes btw.

So Lasers used for anti-air would completly reshape the face of combat and war. possibly to the extent of Nukes.

Oh and its entirely possible to use lasers to make nukes worthless. With enough range, factoring the fact the laser does its job without setting the things off that is.

 

[The_Yeti]

how long till I can mount an automated 100 kilowatt laser on my house to keep those kids off my lawn?

 

[MortisLegio]

step 1 build laser
step 2 attach laser to satelite
step 3 ????
step 4 profit

 

[WalkerHill]

Any way the laser can aim at target exactly, i think it is more suitable for used in spy and shooting with red laser pointer beam or green laser beam. If it want to make for guided missile, i think it's so danger and don't easy to deal or store.

 

[onesc]

I wouldn't want to be a Polynesian pirate right now.

I totally called it [http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/55379-report-us-navy-could-deploy-laser-against-somali-pirates].

I support his opinion.