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Truck-Mounted Laser Guns

Posted by kdawson on from the sharks-with-wheels dept.

bl8n8r writes "Boeing has announced a contract with the US Army to develop laser cannons that are to be mounted atop 20-ton trucks for the purpose of shooting down incoming artillery, rockets, mortars, or bombs. The High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator project actually shoots stuff instead of just painting a mark on a target for other armament to hit."

7 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. No, not really by everphilski · · Score: 5, Informative

    The range to shoot down a RAM (rocket-artillery-mortar) threat is on the range of a few kilometers. Laser attenuation ovr that short a distance is pretty minimal. My master's thesis was on this concept, but swapping out the laser for a gun-launched projectile... you actually don't need that much focused energy to destroy a RAM threat mid-flight.

    1. Re:No, not really by everphilski · · Score: 3, Informative

      The event horizon for a RAM threat is incredibly short. Seconds. Depending on the scenario, if you do not get your shot off within a few seconds of detection, you are dead in the water. Secondly, the amount of energy necessary to take out a RAM is pretty low... on the order of tens of kilojoules. These facts I know from my research.

      (Up until a few months ago, I worked 2 rooms over from some of the guys doing the modeling and simulation for this particular system ... this is a test bed, not the finished product)

  2. Re:They're getting smaller every day. by zamboni1138 · · Score: 5, Informative

    They're still working on the 747-mounted laser.

  3. MTHEL? by Lazarian · · Score: 3, Informative

    Why don't they just work with the already tested MTHEL system?

  4. MTHEL already tested against multiple mortars by vg30e · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Laser in the article is a development of the MTHEL project. The purpose of MTHEL is to defend positions against incoming rockets and mortars. One of the test videos actually shows the MTHEL hitting 3 different mortar rounds launched from 3 different positions all traveling through the air at the same time.

  5. Re:I'm so proud by Eternauta3k · · Score: 3, Informative

    Most materials aren't reflective enough, the people who make laser etching machines can tell you how even the best mirrors (gold, polished to under a 1/4 wavelength) are only 80% reflective. That means 20% is being absorbed as heat. With enough power, you could burn through anything.

    --
    Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
  6. Re:Dude... by VagaStorm · · Score: 4, Informative
    Because the Geneva Convention states that any country who has signed it is bound by it even if fighting others that have not:
    From http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/365?OpenDocument

    "Although one of the Powers in conflict may not be a party to the present Convention, the Powers who are parties thereto shall remain bound by it in their mutual relations."
    --
    www.aleo.no