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posted by mrpg on Monday April 09 2018, @03:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the death-from-below dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow8317

[...] 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


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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 09 2018, @08:30PM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday April 09 2018, @08:30PM (#664655) Journal

    That's why it's in the research and development stage.

    Interestingly, China may be about to outspend the U.S. on said laser research [businesswire.com].

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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Monday April 09 2018, @10:23PM (3 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Monday April 09 2018, @10:23PM (#664717) Journal
    I saw that. They're more likely to deploy them defensively, on land, making it slightly more plausible that this could work well for them, but I still suspect nothing useful will come of it anytime soon. It's just too easy to deploy many times the firepower for a tiny fraction of the cost, using guns.

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 09 2018, @10:38PM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday April 09 2018, @10:38PM (#664722) Journal

      China has significant naval ambitions. It's building aircraft carriers and flexing its muscles near disputed islands. They will probably want to mount lasers on ships.

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      • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday April 10 2018, @12:24AM

        by Arik (4543) on Tuesday April 10 2018, @12:24AM (#664751) Journal
        They have, and plonking an impractical but impressive laser on an aircraft carrier where it just interferes with operations would actually be just the kind of stupidity they're prone to so I would hardly rule it out. However, keep in mind, their strategy is clearly built around the idea that this navy can only really operate safely in their home waters, with support from nearby bases, which is why they're doing so much base building, from one end of that sea to the other, so that scenario is also perfectly plausible.
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      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday April 10 2018, @12:31AM

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday April 10 2018, @12:31AM (#664752) Journal

        Even on ships I'd bet the lasers are defensive rather than aggressive. For defense they may have the advantage in that they don't need to lead the target, so aiming is easier. OTOH, they'll probably be a bit slower to get into action.

        I'm always dubious about anti-missile-missiles, but a laser might well fit that job reasonably well...if it could get into action quickly enough. Defending against a laser attack, though, is reasonably easy, so you'd need an extremely strong attack. Otherwise you have things like fog and dust shields that drastically reduce your effectiveness, probably to the point where a mirror defense is feasible. You need to be able to focus quite sharply to prevent a mirror from making your attack nearly worthless. Against an incoming missile, though, even if you don't disable the missile, you can change the airflow around it so much it misses it's target, and you can probably burn out any sensors it's using.

        Now lasers would probably also work well in defending against drones, but again the problem is that you need to be able to get into action quickly.

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