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Oh hai! I'z in yer gunship...

MikeD

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,690
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chez moi
They have to install huge speakers to make that cool Star Wars "screeching laser" sound when it fires...
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,442
20,247
Sleazattle
I wonder how many KW the laser outputs? The only problem with lasers as a weapon is that it is easily defeated with a shiny surface.
 
urbaindk

urbaindk

The Real Dr. Science
Jul 12, 2004
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Sleepy Hollar
Westy said:
I wonder how many KW the laser outputs? The only problem with lasers as a weapon is that it is easily defeated with a shiny surface.
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Yes, but shiny surfaces are easy to defeat because you can see them easily and target them with conventional weapons.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,442
20,247
Sleazattle
jdschall said:
Yes, but shiny surfaces are easy to defeat because you can see them easily and target them with conventional weapons.
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I don't think the intent is to replace bombs with beams but to offer a weapon that would have less collateral damage. A tank in the desert would be better protected with camouflage and best destroyed with explosives. A cache of weapons next to an apartment building is a better proposition for laser weapons. Either way a mirror can be covered with something as simple as paper to camouflage the mirror but once a beam hits the paper it will burn away and the beam reflected by the mirror.

I'm not saying it can't be an effective weapon, just that there is a low tech defense.
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
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Westy said:
I wonder how many KW the laser outputs? The only problem with lasers as a weapon is that it is easily defeated with a shiny surface.
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Sales of Turtle Wax in Iraq will go through the roof.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
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Westy said:
I wonder how many KW the laser outputs? The only problem with lasers as a weapon is that it is easily defeated with a shiny surface.
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If its a high power laser it will burn mirrors by surpassing the laser damage threshold (the mirror has imperfections/dirty/moisure/etc)

Damage Threshold
The resistance of an optical component to laser induced damage is quantified in an irradiation power density expression know as laser damage threshold.

The most common laser damage process this is often initiated at a dielectric surface or interface by the ionization of a contaminant molecule such as water that has been absorbed on a surface or trapped at an interface. Ionization can also occur in the interior of a pure dielectric, where the very high photon fluxes of some pulsed lasers may induce a process known as multi-photon ionization.

A rare phenomenon that results in acoustic amplification and subsequent mechanical damage.

Energy absorption at inclusions that leads to thermal fracture can occur, but it is unusual in high-quality dielectric materials.

In addition to these effects, polishing imperfections such as scratches and digs can result in constructive interference of reflected or diffracted waves in which the resultant electric fields can potentially cause damage.

Laser damage threshold is usually specified as a power per unit area for cw lasers or as energy over time per unit area, for pulsed lasers. A typical specification for a high-energy laser optic could be 4.5 J/cm2 in 10 nsec at 355 nm.
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X3pilot

X3pilot

Texans fan - LOL
Aug 13, 2007
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SoMD
I think they should fly it around at night and see how many cats and dogs they could get to chase the laser point...
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
syadasti said:
If its a high power laser it will burn mirrors by surpassing the laser damage threshold (the mirror has imperfections/dirty/moisure/etc)
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ie:

I blow mah light-gat right tru yo winsheel, biatch.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,442
20,247
Sleazattle
syadasti said:
If its a high power laser it will burn mirrors by surpassing the laser damage threshold (the mirror has imperfections/dirty/moisure/etc)
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Industrial high power metal cutting lasers use a wide beam when bouncing off mirrors. It is focused to a fine point only at the end of the beams travel. Shooting a laser, no matter how powerful over long distances wil disperse significantly because of atmospheric conditions reducing the energy density.
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Westy said:
Industrial high power metal cutting lasers use a wide beam when bouncing off mirrors. It is focused to a fine point only at the end of the beams travel. Shooting a laser, no matter how powerful over long distances wil disperse significantly because of atmospheric conditions reducing the energy density.
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:think:

Will they at least be able to play the CD I leave on my roof from 30,000 feet?
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
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Westy said:
Industrial high power metal cutting lasers use a wide beam when bouncing off mirrors. It is focused to a fine point only at the end of the beams travel. Shooting a laser, no matter how powerful over long distances wil disperse significantly because of atmospheric conditions reducing the energy density.
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No doubt it doesn't work as well at long distance and its probably useless when its cloudy but I am sure its still effective at its operational distance and can fry mirrors if its strong enough. They would be focusing the beam when trying to fry something obviously.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,442
20,247
Sleazattle
syadasti said:
No doubt it doesn't work as well at long distance and its probably useless when its cloudy but I am sure its still effective at its operational distance and can fry mirrors if its strong enough. They would be focusing the beam when trying to fry something obviously.
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They would just have to focus it from a long distance away. I thought this technology was originally intended for anti ballistic use in the upper atmosphere where conditions are better.
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Westy said:
They would just have to focus it from a long distance away. I thought this technology was originally intended for anti ballistic use in the upper atmosphere where conditions are better.
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I betcha they have some type of secondary targeting laser that helps the weapon laser focus. I betcha.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Westy said:
They would just have to focus it from a long distance away. I thought this technology was originally intended for anti ballistic use in the upper atmosphere where conditions are better.
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Yeah it was but it may have been modified purely to waste taxpayer's money:busted:
 
MikeD

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,690
1,735
chez moi
Speaking of collateral damage, won't anyone observing the laser discharge have their eyes melted out of their head, even if the laser isn't in the visible spectrum? I can't imagine this thing is eye-safe...
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
So how long till they have an orbiting super-laser satellite like in Akira?

There's a really lame nightclub in town here. I want it vaporised.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,442
20,247
Sleazattle
H8R said:
I betcha they have some type of secondary targeting laser that helps the weapon laser focus. I betcha.
Click to expand...

You can't really focus out dispersion. They could affect the polarization of the beam to reduce it but not focus it out.
 
MikeD

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,690
1,735
chez moi
Westy's trying to hide the fact that lasers are cooler than ninjas by using all this "science" as a smokescreen.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
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VT
Wired Article:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/12/military-reques.html

According to the Marines' laser request, obtained by DANGER ROOM, this so-called Precision Airborne Standoff Directed Energy Weapon (PASDEW) wouldn't just be an improved killed machine. It would also have particularly devastating psychological effects. Such weapons, when used against people, "can be compared to long range blow torches or precision flame throwers, with corresponding psychological advantages for [Coalition Forces] CF."

In other words, the lasers don't just kill people, but they kill people in really gruesome, frightening ways -- particularly because the beam from such weapons, like the Advanced Tactical Laser, is invisible to the human eye. That means you could have three guys standing around, and one of them suddenly burst into flames.
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Sounds like I was right, this is just a project to waste taxpayer's money:

Sounds nasty, right? But, I doubt there's going to be videos of laser-induced exploding insurgents anytime soon. The Advanced Tactical laser, on which this request is based, hadn't even reached battlefield-strength threshold of 100 kilowatts as of this summer (the exact number is considered classified). As one senior Air Force official told me earlier this year: "The laser’s not powerful enough to do very much. It’s not powerful enough to deliver the effects you need."

Right now, the service regards it as a testbed. A good testbed, but still just a testbed.

When I interviewed a Boeing official earlier this year, I was told that the company wasn't going to have the actual chemical laser integrated on the plane till the end of the year (they had been using a low-power proxy laser during beam control tests). Moreover, Boeing at the time noted that the military was concerned about forward basing a chemical laser. In other words, sending the laser to Iraq integrated on a C-130 (let alone the V-22 pictured above) is not likely to happen anytime soon.
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H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Westy said:
You can't really focus out dispersion. They could affect the polarization of the beam to reduce it but not focus it out.
Click to expand...
Then...just crank the fvcker way up and hit em with a wider beam.

Or lob a few big ass bombs after you've blinded everyone.
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
That means you could have three guys standing around, and one of them suddenly burst into flames.
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Spontaneous terrorist combustion already happens all the time. Those fvckers are HOT for Allah.
 
MikeD

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,690
1,735
chez moi
Why bother with this, when napalm sticks just fine to kids?
 
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