laser weapon feasable yet?

[Unicorn]

The Geneva Conventions don't really have much to do with any type of weapons. It was one of the Hague Conventions that dealt with weapons, and then it banned weapons that were designed to increase the suffereing, or just wounding weapons. LASERs that are intended to just blind others are banned, but if one were made to kill another, it would be fine.

 

[Atomic6]

Hey-how long did you think I would wait until chiming in anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif and Don is correct: You can't talk about the cool stuff here...

The place I hang my labcoat during the day makes these toys you have been discussing. I have supported this technology for almost 20 years. I will tell you that the power of a Chemical Lazer is truley devistating. The ABL system is just that. Sure it may only be able to pop a few targets; but there is a fleet of them hunting the skies (or soon will be anyway).

Did anyone bring up THEL?
THEL Laser Page

We make just about all varieties of lasers. The scariest laser of all time is the FEL.

FEL Stuff here

and here:
More FEL and page down for Antimatter news

This forum amazes me...........

 

[bj]

The exact definition of 'weapon' is what we always seem to get stuck on. Most of the smaller stuff (man portable) has been used to disrupt optics (both organic and otherwise). The man-portable DAZER was designed to disrupt enemy optical systems, as well as blind people. Needless to say, never quite made it to production, though a couple dozen prototypes were made before the legal and political winds changed.

Getting a little bigger, you have vehicle mounted systems specifically desinged to scan for enemy optics and take them out. The Outrider mounts atop a HMMWV, while the Stingray mounts on a Bradley.

There's an Air Force gadget that mounts in an M203 grenade launcher as a deterrent device. Very bright, but not blinding, lets you know you've been spotted. It's called Saber.

The pulsed impulsive-kill laser, affectionately referred to as PIKL, has had it's ups and downs, but it's a promising technology that would allow tunable effects easier than some more traditional laser technologies.

Course, if you really want power in a small size, you need to go to explosive generators. A one-shot, of course, but gobs of power from a small device.

Trust me, this stuff's all on the web. Certainly the details of some are not for discussion, and the stuff being worked on today... Let's just say, impressive.

 

[Phaserburn]

Craig,

Wasn't Walter Koenig on Star Trek (Chekov), not Space: 1999? I believe he carried something like I am in my avatar.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

[ QUOTE ]
Phaserburn said:
Craig,

Wasn't Walter Koenig on Star Trek (Chekov), not Space: 1999? I believe he carried something like I am in my avatar.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think he played both characters... let me google that name and see what comes up...BRB...hmmm...some websites say he played Chekov on Star Trek and Walter Koenig on Space: 1999, and others say that John Koenig was on Space: 1999.
Now I'm all "cornfused". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[outlaw918692000]

Everything you read is 20 year old technology, in terms of the military. The reason they don't persue a laser field weapon is it will reflect and is absorbed by flat paint. Force weapons are more what they want like microwave and sonic. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dedhorse.gif

 

[Frangible]

The problem with high energy lasers is how inefficient they are. It takes a lot of input power that's not really feasible. The polonium power source is cute in theroy, but enough polonium to power a small car, which is less than what's required for a laser weapon, would kill you even through 15cm of lead shielding. Not to mention polonium decays quickly and makes gold look cheap.

You'd want a beam that's about a half inch wide to be competitive with bullets (the goal is to cause blood loss and starve their brain of oxygen), and probably an x-ray or gamma ray to minimize the reflection problems.

Perhaps someday, we'll have a very effecient gamma ray laser head driven by some nuclear or biochemical power source that works better than a firearm.

But I wouldn't hold my breath over it. Firearms are incredibly good relative to lasers as weapons right now. I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

 

[Marked]

Better idea.
"Kindergarten Solar-powered Death Squad
Take a large crowd of children out into the sunshine and give each one a 20cm square mirror. Show them how to aim all of their little spots of sunlight at the same distant object, then stand back and see what they do. Better yet, run away.
FAST!"

http://amasci.com/hoax.html

 

[Blackbeagle]

For the near future, I doubt there is going to be much in the way of laser weapons. Most of the lasers used in modern warfare are primarily for ranging and target designation. There is some work on trying to use lasers to blind personnel and to blind equipment such as the night optics on weapons or the television target sensors on things like the Maverick missile or the Tomahawk. The problem with that is the same problem the Phalanx CIWS has - trying to shoot down something coming at you at multiple mach speed - by the time you see it, you don't have much time to target it and even less time to hit it. Not so much the weapon as the ability to see the incoming, move your weapon into an interdiction trajectory and firing it at the right time.

Something to think about: go out in a dark field. Have someone shine a light. Makes them very visible and very targetable. Now, imagine you have a missile with a laser seeker - just shoot it at the laser source. Your weapon becomes a homing beacon and gets you killed. Sort of the same problem with radar and radar killing missiles like the Harm.

 

[markus_i]

And let's not forget a quote from a children's comic (ca. 1975): "the best known defense against beam weapons is fog". Drop a few fog/smoke grenades (or you might even use a continous fog generator?) and watch the light show...

Sure, a sufficiently powerful laser will burn through the fog and still carry sufficient energy to damage the target, but as long as laser weapons will be scraping the bottom of the barrel to deliver enough energy under optimum atmospheric conditions, worsening those conditions will make them unuseable. (Near) Vacuum conditions are something else, but I can't see a handheld laser weapon with any advantages over e.g. a high speed small calibre gun (like the current/new army developments).

Bye
Markus

 

[PsycoBob[Q2]]

I'd get really upset if someone told me I was going to be using a rifle-type Gamma laser. Anything that I have to stick my head near that is designed to produce enough gamma-ray energy to kill the target (and not by radiation sickness) will likely have enough leakage out the side to make my little radiation badge go all dark....

 

[blahblahblah]

http://www.spacewar.com/rayguns.html

 

[Hemingray]

Walter Koenig was Chekov on Star Trek (the original series), and appeared again as a PSI on Babylon 5. John Koenig was on Space 1999.

My previous job (about 4 years ago) I worked with an engineer who was from the Ukraine, and he specialized in optics and lasers. I asked him what power level would be needed to shoot flies down, he told me that 0.5 to 1 watt should be sufficient. Let's see,,, Some of the green laser pointers have IR lasers in this power output range. Perhaps one that has been dropped one too many times, and the wavelength conversion crystals have been damaged, might have a second life as a hi-tech fly swatter. One that should definitely NOT be used in the presence of other people or pets, or reflective surfaces. Best to drop this idea altogether before someone loses an eye.

Until lasers and power sources become more efficient and portable, the best light-emitting weapon is a 6D M*gL*te with a Luxeon star LED. Not as a light, but as a wallopin' stick. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif The best offense is a good defense, etc...

ed B in NH /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif

 

[Turd_Ferguson]

Here's the answer to your question. I don't consider this a weapon, though, more of an anti-weapon. I deleted a humorous post that was moved to the cafe so that this link could be more appropriately discussed here.

Looky here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Sub_Umbra]

The airborne laser in a 747 seems to make the most sense to me. 747s regularly fly at 41,000 feet on long runs like Singapore to LAX. At 41,000 feet they are above 95% of the atmosphere. Who knows how much higher they'll actually shoot them from.

 

[ws]

My two cents worth:

There are already laser weapons around: the ordinary laser pointers that people use all the time for lectures and indicating stuff. The earlier models, cheap imitations and those that are not designated as eye-safe are particularly dangerous. Kids especially like to shine them at the drivers of cars and buses. One case I read in the newspaper was that a kid shone a laser pointer at a bus driver who was on duty, and the poor guy was blinded permanently in one eye.

I guess it is up to the individual to use them responsibly, and to ensure that they are not used recklessly. But I believe lasers are in operational use already. There were reports of a system called Dazzler, if I remember correctly. And weren't there reports of some laser devices being used in the Falklands War to interfere with aircraft bombing runs on ships by temporarily making the cockpit windows bright and opaque, like shining an M6 HOLA on a very dirty and oily car windshield at night? Dunno if I am correct. Maybe someone out there can help confirm or deny this.