this thing now only weighs 500 pounds...

[Darkblade]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/No...tions_999.html

a solid state slab type laser in the 13 KW range capable of poking large holes in missile fairings at a range of several miles. it is about the size of two table top microwave ovens. i remember when weapons of this class were much much larger and much much heavier. this thing is one factor of ten away from being crew served weapon size. and arguably it is mountable on a fighter jet now.

now if you didn't need a range of several miles you could probably make do with a much smaller and lighter model. if it were an infantry weapon it would only need a range of 300 or so meters unless it was for a sniper. i would guess you could get lethal, personal armor defeating or wounding effects from a much more compact and lighter device. say the size of a rifle or handgun.

your ammo is electricity from batteries or a generator. this simplifies and speeds up logistics quite a bit and does away with that multiple ammo calibers and type issue.

i think it is getting close.

[Kelzan]

I thought this thread was about Michael Moore's weight loss.

But this is interesting too. Powerful lasers will only get smaller, though I doubt we'll ever see one that powerful that is hand held.

[Antrel]

I can see systems like these being used in the very, very near future as countermeasures on aircraft or even armor. Talk about air superiority. I can't imagine much of an offensive capacity being developed too soon, though.

We are most definitely looking at the future.

[WorldWatcher]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/No...tions_999.html

a solid state slab type laser in the 13 KW range capable of poking large holes in missile fairings at a range of several miles. it is about the size of two table top microwave ovens. i remember when weapons of this class were much much larger and much much heavier. this thing is one factor of ten away from being crew served weapon size. and arguably it is mountable on a fighter jet now.

now if you didn't need a range of several miles you could probably make do with a much smaller and lighter model. if it were an infantry weapon it would only need a range of 300 or so meters unless it was for a sniper. i would guess you could get lethal, personal armor defeating or wounding effects from a much more compact and lighter device. say the size of a rifle or handgun.

your ammo is electricity from batteries or a generator. this simplifies and speeds up logistics quite a bit and does away with that multiple ammo calibers and type issue.

i think it is getting close.

Just curious as I don't know, is the lasing medium consumed during firing? If so how many "shots" before it has to be reloaded.


>>>>

[WorldWatcher]

I can see systems like these being used in the very, very near future as countermeasures on aircraft or even armor. Talk about air superiority. I can't imagine much of an offensive capacity being developed too soon, though.

We are most definitely looking at the future.

Two aspects to that.

One would be the "kill shot" which would punch through metal to disable.

The other might be the "blind shot" as typically you are going to have some type of low density material covering sensors and optics to the wavelengths of energy (be it light, infrared, RF, what have you) it can pass through. Even at settings that wouldn't "kill" an opponent's tank, aircraft, ship, missile - being able "blind" sensors or render antenna's inoperative can disable the combat effectiveness of complex technology if they then can sense the enemy or receive command/control/guidance information.

>>>>

[RWReaganfan]

If this had been in WP, I would have thought it was about Chris Cristie!

[Darkblade]

Just curious as I don't know, is the lasing medium consumed during firing? If so how many "shots" before it has to be reloaded.


>>>>

the various articles on this show it lasing for long periods of time without significant loss of lasing material. the idea behind solid state lasers is that the electrons eventually go back where they belong restoring the atomic structure. i assume the medium would eventually breakdown but if so it appears to be comparable to the R/R life cycles of other fielded military components and assemblies. in other words this would not be a factor in any given engagement. also i got a couple of items wrong. its 400 pounds and 15 KW.

this thing has nothing to do with the next idea which is conformal phased array laser emmiters (think Star trek phaser arrays.) they are trying to build these. small arrays have been built. if they perfect it the thing can perform multiple functions.

1. direct energy weapon capable of firing at multiple targets simultaneously. no turrets or moving parts.

2. Active and passive multi-spectrum lidar/radar/RF and other. the same elements that shoot out a weapon grade beam can do sensing when not required to fire at targets.

3. Communications transmitter and receiver. the same elements that shoot laser beams and act as radar can also act as a multispectrum transmitter and reciever or tight beam secure two way communications antenna.

[PhantomPholly]

ROFL!!!

Laser - 500lbs.

Power Source - 50,000 lbs. Or alternatively, a 500 lb nuke.

These pesky little details always get left out of the news stories...

[Darkblade]

the power supply is not that big. the output power is 15kw. do you have any idea how small a a 15 kw generator is? or the fact that with power amplifiers a 15 kw generator is not necessary to supply it? this thing could be powered by a lawn tractor battery almost. (at least for one shot) though the added amplifiers or capacitor would add weight. you could probably almost run it with an Onan 5 KW compact RV generator. those things are the size of a small kitty carrier.

[Darkblade]

beginnings of conformal laser arrays (ala star trek TNG and on phasers)

http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/MTO/Pr...EXCALIBUR.aspx

conformal arrays have no complex optics. ldeally they use wave interference to refract the individual laser beams into a single beam and steer the beam towards a target without large mirrors or lenses and servo motors. if they can eliminate the need for mechanical aiming systems aiming and tracking is nearly literally accomplished at light speed. and it is theoretically possible to use the same array for transmitting and receiving communications and sensor energy. also the more laser elements in the array the more powerful the combined laser beam will be and if there are enough then their heat may not even need active cooling to shunt off excess heat even with long dwell times or rapid fire firing modes.

if the array is large enough to contain many elements then parts of the array could do tasks while other parts are performing other missions. the same array could conceivably fire several weapon level beams at the same exact time or perform comms duty or search or targeting radar duty at the same time it's firing shots at hostile forces.

[Physics Hunter]

Nice slippers.

Enjoy the popcorn.