British Engineers Design Anti-Pirate Laser
- Thread starter Scott Bullock
- Start date
Danggit, you beat me to it. I was thinking exactly this. With the beam reflected right back at the original ship, they would be hard pressed to target and fight off the encroaching pirates.manythings said:
When I first started reading this, I was expecting lasers cutting ships in half and punching holes through bulkheads. Imagine my disappointment...
Or they could just equip the crews with those little penny-a-dozen lasers and tell them to aim for the eyes in an emergency. If my primary school teachers are to be believed, that's as close to killing someone as you can ever get without shooting them in the head with a gun.
As funny and useful as that would be I can see the immediate problem of the headline "Ships now annihilating third worlders from a kilometre and a half away".WittyInfidel said:
I remember hearing about this exact same technology being developed by the Americans years ago but on a smaller scale- mostly to be fitted to rifles for hostage situations and non-lethal takedowns.
It's about time BAE finally built something useful rather than just funding the UK's enemies half the time since pretty much all weapons contractors beleive increasing the years profit is a higher priority than the political fallout their contracts are going to bring.
It's about time BAE finally built something useful rather than just funding the UK's enemies half the time since pretty much all weapons contractors beleive increasing the years profit is a higher priority than the political fallout their contracts are going to bring.
What do they expect fishing in a international shipping lane. These vessels have been given the right to use deadly force by the United Nations Resolution 1838. Yeah Javelins are a tad excessive but why not have someone keep lookout with high powered rifles. Its not like they are sneaking up on the ships. They make themselves known. The pirates want the boat and the ransom what would they gain by actually sinking it?Asehujiko said:
Surely if criminals are coming at you with assault rifles and rocket launchers the LAST thing you'd want to do is "annoy" them.Scott Bullock said:
I'm not saying we should give into these pirates but this is more likely to get people killed than save them from armed robbery and kidnap. I think a far more effective strategy is good old convoys escorted by naval ships and aircraft that can blow any pirate craft right out of the water.
Also if convoys are not practical (they take a long time to amass all the vessels and they have to go at the same pace and path) I think a Security Officer with a Scoped Rifle would be far more effective and cheaper than a laser that the pirates will likely interpret as aggressive so invite them to respond with their own aggression.
Security Officer(s) would also be far easier to deploy on each boat, no special installation, he/they can be delivered via dingy and could be in direct contact via radio with other friendly naval forces in the area, warning of any approaching pirate vessels they may have spotted via UAV and advising on appropriate course of action.
American vessels going through these trouble areas should have a small US Marine contingent on board, and so for British Vessels a Royal Marine contingent. These ships are likely paying HUGE amount of taxes for their trade, their own countries military sould do their job of protecting them.
Assaulting a vessel is suicide with just a few trained riflemen holding the high ground and directing Naval strike aircraft against you. Shooting accurately from a small boat is almost impossible on rough seas whereas the larger boat would be quite stable, they wouldn't even have to shoot holes in the pirates... a few quarter-inch holes in the small motorboat itself and it'll be sinking fast.
Unlike a convoy where it is clear if the ship has naval support, pirates would have no idea which ships had a marine contingent on board so one bad experience would make them wary of attacking any vessel.
I only give a 2/5 stars, they would have got more had the laser caused shit to blow up. If they attached said "death rays" to the heads of sharks, they would have got even higher.
[quote="HentMas" post="7.256264.9603363
"Comming on NEXT!!, Pirates raise mirror shields and blind the crew of a ship with its own laser! more at 10"[/quote]
Oh darn, I think you just defeated the Brits brilliant idea.
"Comming on NEXT!!, Pirates raise mirror shields and blind the crew of a ship with its own laser! more at 10"[/quote]
Oh darn, I think you just defeated the Brits brilliant idea.
