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| Science & Technology |
| Laser Guns Are The Next Military Must Have |
| 2007-01-26 |
| The grand opening of Northrop Grumman's new production facility for solid-state military lasers last week was touted as the beginning of an age when high-powered lasers will do the work of many of the tactical missiles the United States currently must haul around as it carries out campaigns in far-flung locales. Long relegated to the realm of science fiction, lasers have quietly moved to the brink of becoming a reality at the front-line level where they could conceivably offer troops unprecedented protection at a relatively low cost that Congress might find hard to resist. "These systems will shoot down rockets, mortars and short-range missiles and will become critical elements of land, sea and airborne platforms," Mike McVey, president of Northrop's Directed Energy Systems division, said on a recent conference call with reporters. "Laser weapons are really now moving from the laboratory to the battlefield," he added. "And this facility is part of our long-term commitment to brining high-powered lasers to the warfighter." Just this week, Raytheon reported it had successfully integrated a solid-state laser with the Phalanx system that locks on to anti-ship missiles and blows them apart with a rapid-fire Gatling gun. In a recent static test, the Phalanx-based Laser Area Defense System (LADS) detonated 60-millimeter mortar rounds placed some 550 yards downrange. "Our solid-state LADS proves you don't have to wait another three-to-five years for solid-state lasers to have military utility on the battlefield," cheered Raytheon Missile Systems Vice-President Mike Booen. "They are ready now." More at link... |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #7 What happened to Deep Fat Fry? /Spaceman Spiff |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-26 18:07 |
| #6 All the answers are in the Star Trek Tech Manual: Level one: lowest setting, Light Stun, capable of stunning most base humanoids for approximately five minutes. According to Starfleet regulations all phasers must be stored at this setting. Possesses enough force to break large urns. Level seven: Capable of vaporizing noranium carbide alloy. Level ten: Kill setting, capable of killing a biological organism. Level sixteen: Capable of vaporizing rock to widen an opening in a lava tube partially blocked by rubble, or blowing large holes in walls. |
| Posted by: Gloque Elmang4914 2007-01-26 15:29 |
| #5 Redneck Jim: "Real mirrors are never perfect; they always absorb some small percentage of the light. If that is enough to start damaging the mirror, then the mirror will be cracked, melted, vaporized much like any metal. People go to some expense to get very good low-absorption mirrors designed not to be damaged by high-power laser beams. There is always some "damage threshold" specification to such mirrors." "If you used a common bathroom mirror, it would probably be no more impervious than an ordinary metal sheet." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-01-26 13:16 |
| #4 Yeah, but you can't hide a chrome plated mirror polished tank very well. That means your anti-tank rocket will work just fine. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-01-26 12:58 |
| #3 Having been a science-fiction reader for around 45 years, the laser is easily defeated by a mirror ( have this mental image of Chrome-plated, mirror-polished tanks |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-01-26 10:40 |
| #2 A problem associated with using lasers (and some other energy weapons) as individual weapons is the old martial arts problem of "how deep?" That is, if the focal point of a strike is on the surface of someone's body, it will have a very different effect than if the focal point is deep within the person struck. A surface strike might leave a bruise, where a deep strike might cause severe injury. So unless a laser burns a hole through somebody, it may not be as effective as a bullet, all else being equal. And it is unlikely that a laser gun will give you the sometimes useful things a gun can give you like ricochets, different type rounds and velocities, and ease of reloading. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that a laser could be used to target an area, instead of a point. Literally, a soldier could select his field of fire, and his one weapon would automatically target anything above a certain size moving in that area, so he doesn't have to. This would make it very hard to return fire, in that as soon as you moved within a direct line of sight, you would have a hole burned through whatever was exposed. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-01-26 09:52 |
| #1 The Jedai are comming. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-26 06:32 |