albino boo said:
SinisterDeath said:
You know.. the article says it's 'safer' than traditional armaments (true to a point!), but that doesn't mean because it uses 'electricity' it is inherently safe.
Top that off, a ship that uses it, really should have more than just Lasers at its disposal... so its still going to have your old fashion armaments... Specially in the advent of EMP weaponry!
Warships are proofed against EMP already. They have been designed to fight in a nuclear environment for 50 years.
Irrelevant. And the 'proofing' against EMP probably has more to do with Navy ships using technology that is over 60 years old, then it is actual EMP proofing. ((They still make use of Vacuum tubes, and circuits the size of your face. The amount of electricity required to fry one of those circuit boards, is measured in Watts or Killowats, not milliwatts like modern computers are.))
From a military/strategic perspective, it is foolish to assume something is invulnerable. Always look at it, as if it could fail. If EMP is one of its few weaknesses, then you have to have a backup plan for when it is disabled. (I'm sure foul weather also plays a roll!) (Course, we also have to remember, that EMP from a Nuke, is going to be different and probably weaker, then weapon designed to focus, and aim an EMP on a military grade target... And I'm really not sure how the human body would cope against something that could take out those kind of circuits!)
So if we work on the premise that Lasers are vulnerable to EMP weapons, the solution is to simply have a backup.
Weapons that aren't vulnerable to EMP weaponry. Aka, firearms/cannons/ect that are generally invulnerable to EMP weaponry.