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#4053922 - 12/21/14 05:08 AM After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction  
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...LaWS performed so well that the Captain of the USS Ponce is authorized to use the weapon in defense of the vessel immediately. The beam of energy is invisible - the total & rapid destruction of the target is the result.

The laser is much cheaper then conventional weapons and can be fired by one sailor using a game-like controller. The laser performed very well in high wind, humidity and temperature.

This laser is the ultimate destructive weapon and smaller versions could be equipped on robot infantry and low flying drones to quickly restore peace during riots

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/tech/innov...;iref=obnetwork


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#4054010 - 12/21/14 01:22 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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Originally Posted By: Haggart
. . . and low flying drones to quickly restore peace during riots


Your local Flying Bureau of Incineration?

Yeah, uh... no.


Question everything!
#4054026 - 12/21/14 02:18 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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didn't the movie "Terminator" (or one of them) start out that way ?
biggrin


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#4054062 - 12/21/14 03:52 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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Originally Posted By: Haggart
...LaWS performed so well that the Captain of the USS Ponce is authorized to use the weapon in defense of the vessel immediately. The beam of energy is invisible - the total & rapid destruction of the target is the result.

The laser is much cheaper then conventional weapons and can be fired by one sailor using a game-like controller. The laser performed very well in high wind, humidity and temperature.


Nice to see it's working out so well.

Quote:

This laser is the ultimate destructive weapon and smaller versions could be equipped on robot infantry and low flying drones to quickly restore peace during riots

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/tech/innov...;iref=obnetwork


I'm pretty sure hydrogen bombs still rank higher in the destructive weapons list. neaner

As for mounting them on low flying drones for riot control... It's going to be quite awhile before a sufficient power supply will be light enough to fit on that sort of drone along with a truly high powered laser. A dazzler-type laser configuration that can cause disorientation might actually make sense for riot control, and would require less power. Frying rioters might prove a bit too extreme, eh?

#4054073 - 12/21/14 04:11 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: CyBerkut]  
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A scenario:

IS fighters hear a 3d voice projection telling them their god is displeased, condemning their actions. They are told to repent, throw down their weapons and run away or face the fires of hell on earth. Then they start combusting....and fleeing for their lives

Now THAT would be effective PsyWar. skyisfalling


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#4054074 - 12/21/14 04:14 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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hmmm....Nixer have you thought of sending that idea to Special Forces ?
thumbsup


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#4054190 - 12/21/14 09:24 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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What stops the target force deploying smoke to block the laser I wonder?


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#4054228 - 12/21/14 10:26 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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IF the smoke it thick enough (hard to do, if you're moving fast through the air). AND IF the smoke will actually block the spectrum that the laser emits AND remain stable to block the ray for more than just a tenth of a second. AND IF the smoke can deploy fast enough to block the laser BEFORE major damage occurs. And then you're still vulnerable to conventional projectile weapons, hiding behind your smokescreen...

I find these discussions disingenuous where you pit one new technology against an array of possible countermeasures. EVERY technology incurs mechanisms of its own defeat. That's why we mix different weapons to use COMBINED ARMS tactics. If there was the one weapons against which there was no defense, everybody would use it.


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#4054233 - 12/21/14 10:29 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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So the "polished metallic" skin might become fashionable again? smile


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#4054326 - 12/22/14 02:45 AM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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Think a blast of tinsel would be better than smoke to diffuse a laser beam.

#4054439 - 12/22/14 11:19 AM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Jayhawk]  
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Originally Posted By: Jayhawk
So the "polished metallic" skin might become fashionable again? smile

...only if it actually is reflective to the laser's frequency. For example, in the UV spectrum pure copper is one of the few reflective materials. Unfortunately exposed copper will quickly oxidize ... and no longer be reflective.
So yeah, the tinsel/chaff type of countermeasure has a better property (but again, only if you can dispense is fast enough and if you can keep the cloud between you and the attacker; if that makes your movement predictable your vulnerability against other weapons increases).

No matter what, working laser weapons have a lot of advantages; in the range of up to a few hundred kilometers physical targets (be they on land, airborne, or space based) no theoretical or practical evasive maneuvers are possible that promise complete hit avoidance. The time loop between target track and weapon release and confirmation of the hit location is as close to "instantaneous" as it gets (only at interplanetary ranges (beyond Moon distance) could you hope to throw off an attacker's aim.

The struggle so far was to get one to work under practical (=non laboratory) conditions and with a sufficient power to attack real-life threats. Now that a practical weapon exists the search for countermeasures will begin. In the case of a guided missile ablative coating might work. But that will increase the mass of the vehicle, reducing its range, maneuverability, and/or its payload. Reflective coating - maybe there is some more or less exotic material to be found, but its practicality remains to be seen.


Welcome to the death ray age, expected since the 1930s.


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#4054473 - 12/22/14 01:34 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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Wonder what the rate of fire is?

#4054481 - 12/22/14 01:44 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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"Continuous".

#4054548 - 12/22/14 03:47 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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with this new death ray we could completely rule the world - but then we'd have to run the whole world - no, nvm - forget it


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#4054563 - 12/22/14 04:23 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Ssnake]  
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Originally Posted By: Ssnake
Originally Posted By: Jayhawk
So the "polished metallic" skin might become fashionable again? smile

...only if it actually is reflective to the laser's frequency. For example, in the UV spectrum pure copper is one of the few reflective materials. Unfortunately exposed copper will quickly oxidize ... and no longer be reflective.
So yeah, the tinsel/chaff type of countermeasure has a better property (but again, only if you can dispense is fast enough and if you can keep the cloud between you and the attacker; if that makes your movement predictable your vulnerability against other weapons increases).

No matter what, working laser weapons have a lot of advantages; in the range of up to a few hundred kilometers physical targets (be they on land, airborne, or space based) no theoretical or practical evasive maneuvers are possible that promise complete hit avoidance. The time loop between target track and weapon release and confirmation of the hit location is as close to "instantaneous" as it gets (only at interplanetary ranges (beyond Moon distance) could you hope to throw off an attacker's aim.

The struggle so far was to get one to work under practical (=non laboratory) conditions and with a sufficient power to attack real-life threats. Now that a practical weapon exists the search for countermeasures will begin. In the case of a guided missile ablative coating might work. But that will increase the mass of the vehicle, reducing its range, maneuverability, and/or its payload. Reflective coating - maybe there is some more or less exotic material to be found, but its practicality remains to be seen.


Welcome to the death ray age, expected since the 1930s.


In this case confusing the Ship's sensors is your best bet, as this will disable "all" of the main weapons systems.

But then ship's sensors are designed to work again ja....I've gone cross eyed.
smile


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#4054575 - 12/22/14 05:11 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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Ayup... It's going to be pretty hard to effectively 'jam' something that can be aimed via a bore sighted camera.

#4054577 - 12/22/14 05:21 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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And besides, aren't laser based weapons eco friendly? It's a win win situation!


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#4054594 - 12/22/14 06:13 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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What do those protective goggles use? You know the ones you wear when you don't want to lose an eye when working with lasers. Maybe you can have some super-duper strong version of the same thing?


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#4054607 - 12/22/14 06:33 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: Haggart]  
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Maybe the countermeasure to a laser weapon is the other guy having it, too. If you can mount a laser on a ship or around a stationary target, the other guy can do that, too- the limitation is that potential enemies simply have not caught up this far yet, not that it's only available to the good guys. Perhaps for a while, the fight will be decided by whose detection system pick the other guy up first and can either direct a beam back at the source or disrupt the electronics with directed EMP energy. High speed electronic warfare. In those cases, you might have to go back to the art of Kentucky Windage and putting up curtains of slugs if your own system is defeated by the other guy's. Ultimately, it's the sensors that matter- you can have a laser weapon, the best in the world, but with radar jammed or destroyed or optical sensors blinded or dazzled (or stealth technology slipping all detection to begin with), you may as well be unarmed. The Russians are behind in the area of electronics- their weapons are by and large just as lethal, but where they are outclassed generally is in fire control systems and electronics, so they may often not get off the first shots in a shooting war with a first rate opponent.

The economics argument is a good one and makes good sense so long as you monopolize the technology- then that becomes less of a factor if and when the enemy can respond. On the one hand, a technology like that would dominate lesser states that don't have any sort of counterpart- but then again, 'conventional' weapons would do the same thing. If you look at ODS, one of the most lopsided conflicts in modern history (or any for that matter), all without lethal laser beams except for target range finding. Would be a blessing in the cleanup phase though- less toxic metals and unexploded weapons left over, definitely a pro.


But cinema gets leaps and bounds more boring if they depict it real like. Discrete, multi-color flashing laser 'bullets' that go 'pshew, pshew' always nicer than silent, invisible beams which extend out to the visible horizon.

#4054617 - 12/22/14 07:04 PM Re: After 3 Months of Sea Trials the Navy's New Laser Delivers Near Instantaneous Destruction [Re: CyBerkut]  
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Originally Posted By: CyBerkut


As for mounting them on low flying drones for riot control...


Once it gets that compact and affordable, it becomes available to rioters or agitators (or terrorists) as well. This raises all new issues on both the technology and legislative front for society as a whole. Do we prohibit laser weapons for citizens, or are they regulated like any other firearm based on certain criteria?

If they are available in 'non-lethal' models*, things get really interesting, primarily as people might either ambush or return fire on law enforcement or government responses, perhaps with a plausible argument that the intent was not to kill.


*I'm not going to attempt to define what that means here, but hopefully, my point is understood.

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