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Laser Takes Out Truck Engine From a Mile Away
MutualFun (1730480) writes Aerospace company Lockheed Martin has used a laser to obliterate the engine of a small truck from more than a mile away. (Finally, Star Wars is making a comeback!) The company says, "The demonstration marked the first field testing of an integrated 30-kilowatt, single-mode fiber laser weapon system prototype. Through a technique called spectral beam combining, multiple fiber laser modules form a single, powerful, high-quality beam that provides greater efficiency and lethality than multiple individual 10-kilowatt lasers used in other systems."
The article said "The ground-based laser prototype burned through the engine manifold of a mounted truck in mere seconds." so at least two seconds and less than a minute, but you are correct the longer it takes the less practical it would be to use it against a moving target.
Paint it white (specifically, something with high albedo in whatever frequency range the attacker favors) and you can probably increase that time by a factor of ten.
Well won't you be embarrassed when you actually click on the article and note the color of the target vehicle.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Even near perfect mirroring makes damn near zero difference to a cutting laser so I doubt this attack laser would be any different.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
The reality is that the Air Force, Army, and Marines want the A-10 kept alive
You should talk to the Secretary of the Air Force. They're saying otherwise.
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/213844-ayotte-rips-air-force-for-defending-a-10-retirement