Anti Aircraft Laser?

**QuickLightning** · 02-09-09, 08:35 PM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...aft-laser.html

**Cainun** · 02-09-09, 08:44 PM

Damn... Figure out a way to amp up the power, melt through and take down standard planes... Hostile missles... Etc...

Step in the direction of 'futuristic' warfare indeed.

**Kanati** · 02-09-09, 09:50 PM

It's about damn time we saw some frickin lasers on the battlefield.

**TehSpaz** · 02-09-09, 10:45 PM

holy shit, yeah....Developed at the WSMR, NM...(White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico)

We were driving around there one time (grandfather retired off of it) and passed a armed and gated road w/the sign like "Air Force Advanced Laser Warfare Center"

Grandpa said that they were testing lasers there...they test them by shooting into the mountain side :-P

**RottnJP** · 02-10-09, 08:19 AM

That's actually a much more tactically useful (more compact, lighter, and therefore transportable) version of this:

http://defense-update.com/directory/THEL.htm

We've been working on these for a while now. The fact that the current version still has it's .50 and one stinger pod shows just how far it's come from riding on a 5-ton flatbed. Very cool.

The next generation, by the way, is expected to mount into the breasts of robotic female soldiers...

**Consultant** · 02-10-09, 08:35 AM

I still want a remote control Multi Kill Vehicle.....that was so awesome.

**...bigdog...** · 02-10-09, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by Cainun

Damn... Figure out a way to amp up the power, melt through and take down standard planes... Hostile missles... Etc...

Step in the direction of 'futuristic' warfare indeed.

given the trend, and dependency on unmanned drones and cruise missiles for our arsenal....we thus assume other advanced militaries are doing the same. the israelis certainly rely on a wide variety of unmanned drones to provide recon, and perhaps even do strikes like our predators do in pakistan, etc. So russia, china, EU, canada....we gotta be ready to blow up their shit too.

I'd look at this like a CWIS mounted on warships. It's about mitigating the close-in threats. missiles, planes stupid enough to get that close, soft vessels getting in too close, etc. And shooting down an enemy's unmanned assets, which fly low are are small enough to be sensitive to the power of the laser is tactically valueable. It would certainly fuck some shit up if it was done against us.

Problem with lasers is that they are optically guided. sure, you can lock in on a heat signature, or radar, or whatever...but with stealth planes, or stealth drones (which I'm sure exist or will exist to meet this threat of our own creation)....how do you laser something you can't see/detect?

And so the story continues....