The Jet Fighter Laser Cannon

fahrbot-bot sends in a Register piece about DARPA issuing the penultimate contract for what is intended to be a jet-mounted laser cannon. The Reg outdoes itself in a BOTEC involving downsizing to shark scale. "The US military will shortly issue a brace of contracts for 'refrigerator sized' laser blaster cannons. One of the deals will see a full-power ground prototype built which will be the final stage prior to America's first raygun-equipped jet fighter. ... If it scales down far enough, this would seem to put handheld HELL-guns within an order of magnitude of the striking power offered by conventional small-arms. A 9mm pistol bullet has about 750 joules muzzle energy: a 5kg portable HELL-ray weapon would put out this much energy in a blast less than a second long. ... A dolphin can carry a human being weighing up to 100kg along for a ride. A thoroughbred shark in good training can surely match this. Thus, we seem to be looking at practicable head-[laser] output in the 20-kilowatt range."

Comments

Re:over one second?

[CannonballHead]

But you can keep a laser focused on something a lot easier. Light moves a whole lot faster than a supersonic missile. If you think of it as a "photon machine gun," it's a lot easier to keep the "bullets" hitting the target when your bullets fire rather rapidly and can move at the speed of light. One second of laser-shining-on-a-moving-object can't be TOO hard.

Re:9mm?

[SETIGuy]

Yes, as an antipersonnel weapon, a 750 watt continuous laser leaves much to be desired, besides as a way for a sniper to blind someone. It would have to be limited to use against stationary targets. For example the control system of a stationary AAA battery would be a suitable target. There it would have significant stealth advantages for the user, assuming it doesn't go "pewpewpew". Anywhere a sniper can put a crosshairs would be fine.... Even then, a stabilization system would be require to keep the beam on a single spot for long enough to do damage.

The fighter mounted one has 200 times the power, and I assume it is steered to target by computer. It could blind IR sensors on a jet fighter at quite a distance. Blinding the opposing pilot is also an option, since current strategy is to keep your eyes on the enemy. Just do a rapid raster scan across the target. I'd have to do a little math to figure out how long it would take to punch a hole through aircraft skin or detonate incoming ordnance.

It would be interesting to know the specs in more detail....