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[...] This weapon, cobbled together from a half-dozen industrial cutting and welding lasers to produce a total power of only 30 kilowatts, was hardly the megawatt monster military scientists dreamed of decades ago to shoot down ICBMs. But it's a major milestone, advocates say, toward a future in which directed-energy weapons are deployed in real military engagements.
[...] Pentagon officials think the technology for high-energy lasers, like the one tested on the now-decommissioned Ponce, can serve a variety of roles on land and at sea: zapping the cheap rockets, artillery, drones, and small boats loaded with weapons that insurgents have deployed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, destroying an insurgent rocket costing around a thousand dollars can require a tech-laden Patriot interceptor costing $2 million to $3 million. By comparison, a laser shot from a fiber-laser weapon would cost only $1 in diesel fuel, officials claim.
[...] "The Defense Department has wanted a laser weapon system ever since the laser was invented," says Robert Afzal, senior fellow for laser and sensor systems at the defense contractor Lockheed Martin, in Bothell, Wash. "The key element has been to build this high-power electric laser small enough and powerful enough that we can put it on Army trucks, Air Force planes, and Navy ships, and not take everything [else] off" to make room for it.
Source: Fiber Lasers Mean Ray Guns Are Coming
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @05:12PM (3 children)
Suuure. Wanna bet?
Besides, that's the way to win a war: make you spend zillions when all it takes me to mount a threat you can't ignore is on the order of $10K.
Which is already possible now.
Even easier with a machine gun - a 0.5" BMG (heavy infantry machine gun or high power snuper riffle) delivers 14 and 18 kilojoules [wikipedia.org] - with a muzzle velocity of 900m/s. Assuming the bullet transfers its entire energy over the distance it takes it to stop, we are considering only kinetic energy (no explosive/incendiary rounds) and the bullet stops over a distance equal with its length (say 0.05m to be generous) - the time it stops is 55e-6 seconds. So, 14kJ/55e-6sec=252kW.
Oh, shit, a high powered riffle delivers twice as much power than your laser and it's equally precise over distances of 1000m (usually, the effective ranges for riffles that use it [wikipedia.org] is around 1500m).
Tell me once again, why are those lasers needed? Or do you like paying more taxes for expensive and possibly ineffective tech?
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Listen, if you want a laser weapon, it makes sense to have one delivering 100kJ in microsecond or less. Pulsed laser, that is, with a power of 100MW per pulse. Then it may be possible to cut through any low tech barrier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 09 2018, @05:54PM (2 children)
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @07:22PM (1 child)
What's the production cost of the laser? Number of shots fired in its expected service life? Not to mention service costs, and amortizing development.
A $10 Million gun with $1 rounds requires a lot of shots to approach $1 a shot.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 09 2018, @07:40PM
Well, $10 million might be a charitable estimate for their big laser gun + supercapacitor arrays.
It could be worth it if it's able to intercept targets that missiles can't hit.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]