Ship-Based Laser Weapon Successfully Demoed

[ikaz]

yeah it seems this would be best for say a desert base so you wouldn't have to worry about movement or water vapor.

 

[f-14]

As long as they have electricity they have photons, and as long as they have photons, they have bullets."

one electro magnetic pulse generator comming right up!

Stickywulf "Great idea until the enemy gives their missiles a reflective coating."

ya probably doesn't hurt to give it a chrome mirror finish.
also how well does this laser gun work on torpedos under the water?

 

[Pyroflea]

Aww, but the Phalanx was so awesome! How can we replace something that shoots ~75 rounds per second while actively tracking cruise missiles

 

[mlopinto2k1]

Hmm, make it more powerful and more concentrated for short range tactics. That way it can incinerate upon contact... because that demonstration a while back took quite some time to destroy it's target. Has anyone seen that mirror system this team setup where they can melt a piece of steel like 4 inches thick in second? They use the sun to do it. Insane. Why not do that with the laser. Rectification...

 

[mlopinto2k1]

seconds*

 

[mlopinto2k1]

[citation][nom]f-14[/nom]As long as they have electricity they have photons, and as long as they have photons, they have bullets."one electro magnetic pulse generator comming right up!Stickywulf "Great idea until the enemy gives their missiles a reflective coating."ya probably doesn't hurt to give it a chrome mirror finish.also how well does this laser gun work on torpedos under the water?[/citation]

Faraday cages. Good luck with the chrome plated fighter jet.

 

[K-zon]

So all it would take it a bunch of water to make it not working?

 

[maestintaolius]

[citation][nom]hixbot[/nom]Mirrors ... coming soon[/citation]
Exactly, the next step is to paint/design missiles with reflective material and render this tech useless or reduce it's effectiveness to the point where you just fire a few missiles so while the laser is trying to burn the first, the additional ones strike the ship. I'm still thinkin' the current phalanx system that just relies on shooting hundreds of hunks of metal at the missiles is still a better plan.

 

[Ezence]

imo, if they added infrared to what they are using as a base for the acronym it would be meaner
"InLAWS"

 

[phantomtrooper]

dont need to kill the missiles on the plane. all you need to do is kill the pilot, take out a wing, or take out and engine.

 

[cookoy]

next step is to use a wavelength humans cannot see to hide the location of the laser source

 

[blurr91]

This is not a stand-alone weapon. This is to be used in conjunction with the Phalanx, RAM, and ESSM to provide a layered defense against supersonic anti-ship missiles. ESSM is radar guided. RAM is heat seeking. Phalanx is a wall of lead. This laser provides another way to kill a missile. Not one is 100%. But together, they can provide a near 100% kill rate.

 

[omikron48]

I'm not exactly sure on the effectiveness of laser based weapons over distance. I mean, can a laser beam cause damage as quickly as a projectile round?

If it takes your laser a few seconds to significantly damage a plane or missile, how is that better than shooting the thing out of the sky with a bullet or canon round? The only up side I can think of in using lasers for weapons is the freedom from ammunition dependency and the almost instantaneous contact over very long distances.

 

[blurr91]

[citation][nom]omikron48[/nom]I'm not exactly sure on the effectiveness of laser based weapons over distance. I mean, can a laser beam cause damage as quickly as a projectile round?If it takes your laser a few seconds to significantly damage a plane or missile, how is that better than shooting the thing out of the sky with a bullet or canon round? The only up side I can think of in using lasers for weapons is the freedom from ammunition dependency and the almost instantaneous contact over very long distances.[/citation]

Laser has another advantage over projectile weapon: speed.

With a projectile weapon, you have to aim at where the incoming missile "might be" in the next second. Some missiles actually take evasive actions to confuse the defense system. A laser can be pointed at the incoming missile "right now."

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]scook9[/nom]Laser Weapon System.....that is the best name they could come up with?fail....[/citation]
[citation][nom]Shadow703793[/nom]I guess you haven't heard about about VLT (Very Large Telescope) or OWL (Overwhelmingly Large Telescope),etc?[/citation]

LOL we are talking about the military here ...
"military intelligence , two words combined that can't make sense" - Dave Mustaine (in "Hanger 18" song)

 

[face-plants]

[citation][nom]groveborn[/nom]Also, gravity has minimal effect, so the laser will always travel in a single dimension (straight). Horizon would prevent it from going much more than 15 miles directly across the land (which will not be an issue as it's pointed UP). If fired in a vacuum (like space) the range would be significantly increased.[/citation]

Ok here's a little physics lesson....lasers are focused beams of photons (packets of light) which have ZERO mass. Gravity doesn't have a "minimal" effect...it has NO effect. Light traveling in a vaccuum or on Earth isn't affected at all by gravity.

And before someone corrects me....yes, light traveling to earth from thousands of lightyears away can be "bent" around certain massive objects like black holes etc. This is called gravitational lensing and is how we can see certain objects that are "behind" black holes and other super-massive objects. Technically the space around these objects is bent by gravity and not the light itself so NO gravity doesn't EVER directly affect light.

Also, these lasers are still moving through three dimensions. It takes a lot of computation for these systems to determine the X, Y, Z of where to shoot. The fact they go in a straight line doesn't mean they move in one dimension.

The horizon isn't much of a factor since it's aiming at objects in the air not on land.

The two main things that limit the range are attenuation (weakening of the beam) and from atmospheric distortions. The latter of the two can be compensated for by adaptive optics which has already been proven with the Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL another great acronym).

Adaptive optics use one laser to measure interference within the atmosphere between the weapon and the target. It then "distorts" the laser beam in such a way that after passing through the atmosphere it arrives at the target perfectly focused again.

I am all for these energy weapons as the risk of missing or collateral damage is far less than with projectiles. Also, since they move at the speed of light, it doesn't get any better as far as ways of intercepting incoming missiles, planes or anything else. Also, take into account that the types of ships that will initially carry these lasers are most likely nuclear powered which means virtually unlimited "ammo".

Next step? X-Ray lasers in the megawatt range

 

[Guest]

Hopefully this can protect the US navy from Chinese anti-ship ballistic missiles.

 

[fyasko]

sweet, so... the next COD will have lasers on the AC130 and Chopper Gunner?

 

[Tattysnuc]

[citation][nom]danny69t[/nom]in a few years they can shrink these and put them on sharks[/citation]
you mean frickin' sharks?

 

[Guest]

Although a great concept for defence use it still has physical limitations for range as an offensive anti ship weapon. Ship based missles and even artillery shells can be fired well beyond the horizon but this being a laser beam you will not be able to shoot at anything positioned below the horizon.