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Chinese Scientists Have Developed the World's First Destructive Laser Rifle (popsci.com)
PopularScience: Chinese scientists have developed the world's first destructive, man-portable laser weapon. However, there is more to the story of this cool looking, but "less than lethal" directed energy device. The laser rifle is the ZKZM-500, developed by Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics in Xian, Shaanxi. It's manufactured by the Institute's subsidiary, ZKZM Laser. Weighing at 6 pounds (about the weight of a typical assault rifle), the ZKZM-500 has a range of 2,600 feet. The ZKZM-500 uses a lithium battery with enough power for 1000 two second shots (keep in mind, those 1000 shots may not be at full power). According to Institute designers, its laser is powerful enough to instantly scar human skin and tissue. It can also ignite clothing, knock a small drone out of the sky, or even ignite a fuel tank. That would place its power output around 100-500 watts (most surgical lasers top out at 100 watts).
All it takes to thwart any laser based weaponry is to come covered in something that reflects and scatters light well.
Try moving around on a sunny day in reflective gear to see how well that works on a battlefield.
Perhaps we are all missing the true end use for these lasers.
Maybe their intended use is to blind night vision devices and infrared cameras.
I read that the Chinese were using lasers to prevent pilots from getting near their bases and the island that they built in the South China Sea.
Perhaps this is an extension of that use.
All it takes to thwart any laser based weaponry is to come covered in something that reflects and scatters light well. The effect of a laser weapon is based upon absorption of the light. Technically if you know what kind of laser it is, the color of your clothing might already be enough.
Only if there's no dust in your clothing, and it is exactly, precisely the same color as the laser, and it is only that color. And if the color is a coating, not molded in, because then the laser will strip away everything but the pigment.
It's a cute sci-fi trope, but the idea that wearing clothing of the correct color is a meaningful defense against a laser weapon is totally incorrect. If you just have a little contamination on a mirror, a laser will destroy it. You think you're going to get clothes to do the job? If that did make any sense, you'd want to wear fully white clothing, because that would reflect all visible frequencies. A flat white surface actually reflects more light than an ordinary mirror, because the light doesn't have to pass through the glass twice before you see it. But it still reflects less than 90% of the light, which means that as long as the remaining 10% is sufficient to discolor the garment, that 90% is going to go downhill rapidly.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"