Military Laser Slices Steel 1km Away

[Roggen Bread]

Does this mean we could use mirrors as a defense?

Yes. For like a nano-second. You also couldn't reflect the laser in it's destructive power.
So actually no.

OT: As a German engineer (medical, but still!) this makes me kind of proud. We still got it
And now: please invent some things I actually hope to see in use. (assuming this will be used not only for defensive situations).

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Does this mean we could use mirrors as a defense?

Yes. For like a nano-second. You also couldn't reflect the laser in it's destructive power.
So actually no.

OT: As a German engineer (medical, but still!) this makes me kind of proud. We still got it
And now: please invent some things I actually hope to see in use. (assuming this will be used not only for defensive situations).

So that's sci-fi bullshit then, damn.

 

[TehChuckles]

Now to find some sharks.

(please, by all that is good, have we finally arrived at the happy day when nobody catches the reference?)

What? Sharks with Frickin' laser beams on their head? I always thought the angry mutated Sea bass was a better idea any way.

 

[Roggen Bread]

Does this mean we could use mirrors as a defense?

Yes. For like a nano-second. You also couldn't reflect the laser in it's destructive power.
So actually no.

OT: As a German engineer (medical, but still!) this makes me kind of proud. We still got it
And now: please invent some things I actually hope to see in use. (assuming this will be used not only for defensive situations).

So that's sci-fi bullshit then, damn.

Well, yes.
You can try this yourself.
Just take an ordinary laser pointer (this laser is basically just a very very powerful laser pointer) and point it into a mirror (look out for your eyes! (pun not intended)). The reflected point will be by far more spread than your original point.
And the material has to withstand the heat of the laser (and you can heat a mirror with a light bulb. granted, it will take a while longer than a wooden surface), and this baby just melted steel.

 

[Treblaine]

While likely effective... that's a heck of an expensive and resource consuming way to counter the threat of RPGs and mortars that are almost literally a dime a dozen. It would need it's own generator likely on standby, not as convenient as some prepared ammo crates.

But such is asynchronous warfare, you have to spend $1'000'00 to counter every $1 they spend.

 

[Lucky Godzilla]

snip

snap

Ok, so relection wouldnt realy work, but my point still stands. This has a lot of work to do before it will be worthwhile, mostly in the area of range and targeting. 1Km sounds like a lot, but unless you know where the missle is going to land and can get there in time, you would need an insane number of the things to cover, for examples, all populated areas in range of palastine missles.

We already have tech that can do that. Iron dome will track any missile in Isreal's airspace, and determine where exactly it's going to land befor launching a missile. The process takes about four seconds, and so far has been met with a sucess rate of over 90%

 

[dthree]

Has no one seen this old movie featuring lasers? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ds0wYpc1eM
First thing I thought of.

 

[TornadoADV]

Defeating a DEW AMS is 3 basic components : Rotation, Reflectiveness, Resistance. All weapons built today in terms of rockets and missiles are just thin aluminium tubes packed with explosives and sensitive electronics, stuff that LASERs and pretty much anything lives to destroy. Hardening a weapons system is simple, "Rotation" ; Make the weapon in question spin or otherwise change position within it's trajectory, this ensures that the LASER does not remained focused on one spot on the body of the weapon. "Reflectiveness" ; Some may laugh and think of literal mirrors strapped to rockets, but a reflective or refractive surface does not need to be invinicible to a LASER when it's on a weapon, it simply needs to deflect a high enough percentage of the LASER's energy to ensure that the rocket/missile/etc can hit the target.

Finally, "Resistance" ; this is the largest in scope, from ablative material on the body, photon filters on optic packages to shrinking the payload of the explosives or changing it's composition to resist extreme heat (the concept of C4). When all of these are put together, you should not expect a weapon system that is immune to LASERs, but a weapon system that can survive long enough to reach it's target and destroy it.

 

[Ledan]

You know, if we can manage a decent system of wireless electricity handheld laser guns would be possible. You wouldn't need to carry the pack on your back, but the only problem would be the potential that your power source gets hacked/destroyed/jammed.

 

[Vegosiux]

You know, if we can manage a decent system of wireless electricity handheld laser guns would be possible.

I'd rather not have lightning bolts permeate and ionize the air around me, to be completely honest...and that's just momentary surges. The energy to sustain a consistent flow of electricity...that's a scary thought.

 

[Ledan]

You know, if we can manage a decent system of wireless electricity handheld laser guns would be possible.

I'd rather not have lightning bolts permeate and ionize the air around me, to be completely honest...and that's just momentary surges. The energy to sustain a consistent flow of electricity...that's a scary thought.

-_- that's not how wireless electricity works.
Current tech can only manage a distance of about 5-10 feet, but no lightning bolts appear nor will appear.

 

[Thamian]

I know that I'm somewhat late to this discussion, but... Am I the only one who's curious about it's performance in dust/fog? Because that was that question that immediately came to my mind when I read the bit about the range of demonstrated environments...

 

[Denamic]

This actually sounds pretty damn awesome.
Rather than being actual weapons, its possibilities as a defense mechanism is fantastic, being able to accurately shoot down and neutralize ballistics long before they can do any harm. Would be great if nukes were made obsolete.