Northrop Grumman Markets Weaponized Laser System

stephencrane writes "Northrop Grumman is making available for sale the FIRESTRIKE weaponized laser system. The solid-state laser unit weighs over 400lbs, sends/receives instructions and data via an RJ-45 jack and can be synchronized with additional units to emit a 100 kW beam. It looks like some piece of stereophonic amplification equipment out of the '50s. Or Fallout 3. The press release suggests that FIRESTRIKE 'will form the backbone of future laser weapon systems.'"

Comments

More details?

[Ethanol-fueled]

This pic from TFA shows a "heating/cooling" interface which shows that the units are going to need a coolant circulation system which would makes the whole system more cumbersome than it appears at first glance. With each LRU at 400 pounds + the cooling system I doubt these would be mounted on a hummer.

Another bullet point is that TFA states that "The firm has said that at least eight of these can be linked up to get a proper 100 kilowatt beam" but how exactly would that be done? this provides an idea, anybody "in the know" wanna chime in?

Re:More details?

[couchslug]

The HMMWV is not ideal for mobility. It is a cheap light tactical truck.

Where a laser would be a good fit is in upcoming hybrid-drive FCS-type tracked vehicles. Tracks give far superior mobility, more usable interior space, and can carry more armor. The hybrid electric system offers plenty of electrical power.

so what next ?

[Atreide]

ok for christmas I get my brand new 15kw or later my 100kw laser gun.

but what can i do with that ?
explode a potato in a 10 minutes static shot ? or melt aircraft wing in 1 second ?

also laser is light, therefore someone just needs to diffract or reflect the stream to be protected ? is that right ?

Re:so what next ?

[stdarg]

The explanation I've heard is that even though you see the light being diffracted or reflected, it's still being absorbed and re-emitted at the photon level. The material has to be able to stand up to the energy of the beam. Most mirror surfaces would quickly decompose.

Re:so what next ?

[JesseMcDonald]

ok for christmas I get my brand new 15kw or later my 100kw laser gun. ... but what can i do with that ?

To provide a sense of scale, industrial laser cutters (CO2) tend to run from 100 W to 3000 W. The smaller of these lasers is five times more powerful. I imagine it could cut through an aircraft's wing in milliseconds at most; due to weight limits they aren't very thick. Of course, you'd need to do more than just bore a hole through the wing to bring down a plane.

It's worth noting that a sufficiently powerful laser will actually vaporize the surface, rather than just melting it. It can essentially cause the surface to explode from the sudden influx of heat, resulting in far greater damage than a simple cut.

also laser is light, therefore someone just needs to diffract or reflect the stream to be protected ? is that right ?

At these power levels even an optics-quality mirror tends to absorb too much energy to remain effective. Even if it's just 0.1%, that's still 150 W to 1 kW being absorbed, which will quickly heat the mirror to the point where it becomes opaque.

If you could make it work, though, a retroreflector would be even better than a mirror, since it would redirect the laser back at the source.