Ship-Based Laser Weapon Successfully Demoed

[Guest]

To make a long story short: PEW PEW PEW!

Ship-Based Laser Weapon Successfully Demoed : Read more

 

[fjiekie]

first step to star wars, yey!!

 

[mman74]

Now park these on the Korean border please!

 

[shloader]

[citation][nom]mman74[/nom]Now park these on the Korean border please![/citation]

No kidding. And a half dozen in geosynchronous orbit over that country (and a few others) would be nice, too.

[citation][nom]fjiekie[/nom]first step to star wars, yey!![/citation]

I take it you don't mean Reagan's old plan?

 

[micr0be]

forcefields ... coming soon

 

[Guest]

Whoever faked that silly photo shouldn't give up his day job!

 

[swamprat]

[citation][nom]markdeno[/nom]Whoever faked that silly photo shouldn't give up his day job![/citation]
When the BBC news site reported this last week (or was it the week before?) they said that the big red line was added for clarity, rather than being 'fake' as such (i.e. it wasn't meant to deceive) - you're right though it's not well done.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

next step is to make lightsabers

 

[danny69t]

in a few years they can shrink these and put them on sharks

 

[grieve]

what exactly is the max range of a laser if you miss the target? wouldn't a beam of light travel till it hits something? wouldn't it suck to be golfing and get tagged in the eye by a rogue laser!?
I could see this tech being used on Tanks befor ships, but tell me it isn't cool.

 

[accolite]

[citation][nom]markdeno[/nom]Whoever faked that silly photo shouldn't give up his day job![/citation]

Yeah when you look at the perspective that the railings go you are looking up, but how can you see the ocean if you are looking upward? poorly done photo chop.

 

[crashtest]

[citation][nom]grieve[/nom]what exactly is the max range of a laser if you miss the target? wouldn't a beam of light travel till it hits something? wouldn't it suck to be golfing and get tagged in the eye by a rogue laser!?I could see this tech being used on Tanks befor ships, but tell me it isn't cool.[/citation]

The beam will attenuate (lose intensity) as it moves through the air, basically it will lose energy heating up the air. This is more severe if it's moist air hence the ship mounting issues mentioned.

The beam will also not stay in a perfect column it will disperse as it interacts with the air. As the beam increases size it becomes a less effective weapon, the energy is no longer focused in a small area.

 

[accolite]

[citation][nom]grieve[/nom]what exactly is the max range of a laser if you miss the target? wouldn't a beam of light travel till it hits something? wouldn't it suck to be golfing and get tagged in the eye by a rogue laser!?I could see this tech being used on Tanks befor ships, but tell me it isn't cool.[/citation]

The beam would disperse over distance so it would be limited in it's range, unless they add more lasers or increase power, thus increasing the range.

 

[accolite]

[citation][nom]crashtest[/nom]The beam will attenuate (lose intensity) as it moves through the air, basically it will lose energy heating up the air. This is more severe if it's moist air hence the ship mounting issues mentioned.The beam will also not stay in a perfect column it will disperse as it interacts with the air. As the beam increases size it becomes a less effective weapon, the energy is no longer focused in a small area.[/citation]

Damn, you beat me to it. Oh well.

 

[scook9]

Laser Weapon System.....that is the best name they could come up with?

fail....

 

[JasonAkkerman]

America, fark yea!

 

[joebob2000]

[citation][nom]crashtest[/nom]The beam will attenuate (lose intensity) as it moves through the air, basically it will lose energy heating up the air. This is more severe if it's moist air hence the ship mounting issues mentioned.The beam will also not stay in a perfect column it will disperse as it interacts with the air. As the beam increases size it becomes a less effective weapon, the energy is no longer focused in a small area.[/citation]

The beam will also, most germane to the original question, *not be fired at golf courses*. Unless you are golfing on the moon, you stand a pretty slim chance of being caught by friendly fire since the weapon will be used on *airborne targets*.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]scook9[/nom]Laser Weapon System.....that is the best name they could come up with?fail....[/citation]
I guess you haven't heard about about VLT (Very Large Telescope) or OWL (Overwhelmingly Large Telescope),etc?

 

[redgarl]

TA! TA! TA! IUUUUHHH! GOLDENEYE (Tina Turner)

 

[dgingeri]

imagine this: invading a beach with marines is preceeded by a couple dozen laser sweeps along the entire shore. no more defensive fire against our marines during a beach invasion.

I doubt we'd ever need that, though. I don't see any beach invasions in our future.