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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Laser Hummer in Iraq |
| 2005-03-17 |
| The Army's first and only battlefield laser system is back. In 2003, the Army sent ZEUS, a Humvee armed with a 10kw solid-state laser, to Afghanistan, to blast mines and other explosives left over from years of war. In the six months ZEUS spent there, the laser-hummer zapped over 200 pieces of unexploded ordnance, according to the Army, "at one point setting a record for ordnance disposal by negating 51 pieces in less than 100 minutes." Now, ZEUS "is being forward deployed" again, Army Space and Missile Defense Command Lt. Gen. Larry Dodgen tells Defense Daily. "According to spokesman at Headquarters, Department of the Army, ZEUS is in Iraq as part of a three-vehicle convoy protection concept being evaluated now," DD adds. ZEUS uses a pair of lasers to sizzle its targets, according to Sparta, Inc., the vehicle's maker. A joystick-controlled green Nd:YAG laser is used to designate the target. One it's locked, an invisible high-power Nd:YAG laser swerves around, to heat the sucker up. The system uses diesel fuel to create the laser beam, which focuses energy on the outer casing of the target, which heats up until it detonates, [triggering] a less violent explosion than if the explosive was activated, causing less damage to the surrounding area... "Its power level and utility is new and is not for aerial targets, it's for unexploded ordnance," Dodgen said. "It is a system that works, and we certainly would like to use it whenever possible." A system like this would be optimized with a GPS designator for its target analysis. It could be used for efficiently removing a "friendly" minefield, or with a UAV magnetic or visual 'spotter' aircraft. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #6 Better to have them working on projects like this than teaching ethnic studies at UC-Boulder. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-17 10:32:19 PM |
| #5 But Remoteman, PhD's have to eat too. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-03-17 10:18:46 PM |
| #4 There's only one. Consider it a field-use experiment. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-03-17 8:39:40 PM |
| #3 This thing is a piece of crap. It has to have a crew of PhD's to keep it going, it is extremely expensive and only works on ordnance that is exposed (as opposed to under the ground). But since they've built it, they want to use it. |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2005-03-17 7:34:41 PM |
| #2 Laser Hummer might cure that snoring too *rimshot* |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-17 6:09:19 PM |
| #1 Laser hummer sounds as dangerous as that autoasphyxiation stuff. (So sue me, we drove the MILF thing into the ground) |
| Posted by: Spemble Whains3886 2005-03-17 5:33:06 PM |