[ShadowWolf_IH]

the other day at work i fixed a TV and while i was testing it, i had it on the sci fi channel.  In search of was on, and the first part was very interesting.  

they were showing a 747 launching, and in the nose of it was a laser, on a turret.  The one shown was the first that US air force launched, the laser will be used to knock missiles from the sky.  Then they showed a ground based platform, which in its first test knocked two missiles from the sky.  2 missiles, 1 test.    They said that the core of the ground based laser burned at a temperature greater than that of the surface of the sun.

The reason that this strikes me, is that about ten years ago the Furby became a trandy thing to have.  so 40 years after we put a man on the moon, we have a child's toy with more raw computing power than the lunar lander had.  

I can't remember who it was, but one of our guys here had once posted that he thought that hand held laser weapons were campy and unrealistic...paraphrasing this of course....but in light of these thoughts, i would have to say that 50 years in the future, this may not be the case.

your thoughts?

[Nuke]

this is really old news, they have been working on the airborne laser sence the starwars project. i forget what year but they had gutted a 707 and put a single laser turret in the nose (mind you the turret is just a reflector, the actual laser coil is housed in the fuselage). and the thing was tested succesfully. this was back in the 70 or .80s, hell maybe even sooner. aparently they never ended the project and are currently openly developing a 747 airborne laser prototype. im not sure if theyve got it into trial runs yet.

if they use that halfnium reactor that was in popular mechanics awhile back they could theoreticlly keep the thing airborne for months at a time.

i also remind you that the us military had plasma screens back in the 60s. the tech they have will always be50 years ahead of what we think they have

[pyro-manic]

The Spectre gunships (you know, the Hercules transports used as gun platforms, with howitzers and miniguns etc) are being fitted with laser weapons at the moment. I think it was an iodine laser...

Ah, here we go: Clicky

Old article, but it gives the general gist of things.

[Styxx]

Israel was the first country to actively employ the THEL (Tactical High Energy Laser) in a military application - they have a network of laser installations dedicated to shooting down missiles, mortars and artillery shells. In fact, I think that the laser grid was the reason why terrorists stopped firing rockets and mortars at Jerusalem (I think it was Jerusalem, Sandwich would know better) - all of their shells were being shot down.

[Clave]

Lasers have a problem, the Earth's atmosphere - just try blasting something from an aircraft when it's raining hard - most of your energy will be used up making water vapour from raindrops.  Not to mention the scatter effect...

Masers on the other hand might be more effective in sub-space operations..

Of course the energy source problem remains, but if we can construct sub-miniature nuclear power units, then there might be a chance of smaller 'death rays'

[Nuke]

planes fly above the weather where the air is thin, mind you the 747 is a pretty high altitude aircraft. so an airborne laser is ore effective than a ground based one. also sence aircraft locations always change it prevents the enemy from identifying and exploiting weaknesses in the grid.

[aldo_14]

You know, I have one simple request

and that is to have sharks with frikkin' laser beams attached to their heads

[IceFire]

One of the US defense companies has a contract to develop a anti-missile laser weapon for the JSF as well although they say it'll be 2015 before the technology is sufficiently miniaturized for it to work on a small platform like that.

There's a problem with laser weapons apparently.  Apparently laser weapons if powerful enough have a collateral damage problem...relating to seeing the intensity of the laser beam and burning your retinas.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by IceFire

There's a problem with laser weapons apparently.  Apparently laser weapons if powerful enough have a collateral damage problem...relating to seeing the intensity of the laser beam and burning your retinas.

Problem?  What problem?

Actually, I think there is some Geneva Convention related bar on battlefield lasers (probably not specifically on that tech, of course) designed to blind the enemy.

[pyro-manic]

I think they come under the same rules as flamethrowers, napalm and chemical weapons etc. Weapons not designed just to kill people, but to do so in an excessively painful and nasty way. Hollow-point ammunition is banned for that reason.

(Note:  could be completely wrong on this....)

[IceFire]

Originally posted by aldo_14


Problem?  What problem?

Actually, I think there is some Geneva Convention related bar on battlefield lasers (probably not specifically on that tech, of course) designed to blind the enemy.

Same thing against sonic weapons too.

[Nuke]

Originally posted by IceFire
One of the US defense companies has a contract to develop a anti-missile laser weapon for the JSF as well although they say it'll be 2015 before the technology is sufficiently miniaturized for it to work on a small platform like that.

There's a problem with laser weapons apparently.  Apparently laser weapons if powerful enough have a collateral damage problem...relating to seeing the intensity of the laser beam and burning your retinas.

thats an easy fix, just slap a 'point away from face' sticker on the side of it

[ZylonBane]

Tactical High Energy Laser.

Zap zap, ptooo!

[aldo_14]

So that's where HAL went on his holidays......

[Clave]

Ze goggles do nothing!!!

[Corsair]

Popular Science ran an article on that laser in the 747 about a year ago... the military was playing with it to use it for theater defense against ballistic missiles, mainly Scuds.

Edit: Here's the article on the Hercules-mounted laser.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Styxx
Israel was the first country to actively employ the THEL (Tactical High Energy Laser) in a military application - they have a network of laser installations dedicated to shooting down missiles, mortars and artillery shells. In fact, I think that the laser grid was the reason why terrorists stopped firing rockets and mortars at Jerusalem (I think it was Jerusalem, Sandwich would know better) - all of their shells were being shot down.

Actually, I had heard it was being deployed along the northern border to intercept the Katyusha rockets raining down on the northern towns. I never heard anything about them being deployed around Jerusalem.

[Styxx]

Originally posted by Sandwich
Actually, I had heard it was being deployed along the northern border to intercept the Katyusha rockets raining down on the northern towns. I never heard anything about them being deployed around Jerusalem.

Yeah, that's it then. My mistake.

[Taristin]

*imagines 747s firing lasers on enemy towns*

[Tiara]

Originally posted by aldo_14
You know, I have one simple request

and that is to have sharks with frikkin' laser beams attached to their heads

Giant squids, damnit. Giant squids!