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Boeing Demonstrates Drone-Killing Laser
An anonymous reader writes: Boeing has successfully tested a new weapon system that tracks unmanned aircraft and shoots them down with a laser. The system is surprisingly small — it can be transported in a few medium-sized boxes, and two techs can set it up in minutes. The laser needs just a few seconds of continuous [contact] to set a drone aflame, and the tracking gimbal is precise enough to target specific parts of a drone. "Want to zap the tail so it crashes and then you can go retrieve the mostly intact drone and see who is trying to spy on you? Can do. Think it's carrying explosives and you want to completely destroy it? No problem." The laser is controlled with custom targeting software that runs on a laptop, with help from an Xbox 360 controller. Boeing expects the laser system to be ready for sale in the next year or two.
PROOFREAD, American idiots...
Cue the knuckleheads with their "just put mirrors on the dronze herp derp!"
Mirrors aren't 100% efficient reflecting all wavelengths. Mirrors are heavy; a mirror covered drone won't work very well.
... when they figure out how to make it into a bug zapper.
Every time this topic comes up, someone says "teh mirrors".
And then someone else points out the duration and intensity of these lasers would simply ablate any mirroring before it had a chance to do any good.
So I'm going to assume this still won't work.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.