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Lockheed Martin says it’s ready to hand over laser weapon to Army for testing

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P

Piecake

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imrs.php
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Lockheed Martin said Thursday it has finished a 60-kilowatt laser system for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and is preparing to hand it over to the Army for further testing. In initial tests, the company achieved 58 kilowatts of power but expects its laser to reach its full potential by the time of its delivery in the next few months.

“We’re really at the dawn of an era of the utility of laser weapons,” said Robert Afzal, senior fellow for laser and sensor systems at Lockheed Martin. The Army’s specialized military vehicles “can now carry something which is small enough and powerful enough for what we believe will be militarily useful.”

The Navy has already deployed a ship-based laser that it says is ready for combat use, but the Army faces a unique set of challenges. To protect American soldiers from low-budget drone fleets, the Army would need a highly mobile laser that can sit on the back of a truck. The agency would have to find a way to carry enough battery power to fire continually without the truck overheating.

The system is designed to be a low-weight solution that sits on a ground-based vehicle called a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), essentially a truck designed for carrying large artillery.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...d-555pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.c1921d3e2be7
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
This seems like a terrible idea.
 
B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
Just watched a video involving a 30kw laser rifle used as a cutting tool. I'd love to see real world usage of a 60kw laser for military applications.

Also, WWIII will also be known as LASER WARS
 
S

sugarhigh4242

Banned
The US can't afford free college or high speed rail (or lead-free water), but it can afford to fund laser weapon R&D (not to mention purchase).
 
Y

yanipheonu

Member
I mean I guess having laser weapons exist means we at least have better weapons once Xcom 2 happens.

Because if not, I think they may be vastly overpaying the military for little necessary return.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Wait, maybe I'm missing something, but why would the laser need to be continually on?

Isn't the objective of point defense to be short controlled bursts to take down targets? (Which could still play hell with any type of current battery in terms of draining it, but still)

Or is this still using human 'visual' guidance systems, which would just require 'squeeze and hold until acquisition' targeting
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
Regulus Tera said:
It's the US military. This shit is gonna be deployed against enemy combatants as soon as the technology allows it.
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There is little need for that. It will take a long while before weapons designed to engage enemy directly will get replaced with lasers.

For point defense, lasers are ideal since they don't suffer delays like conventional weapons do (it takes time to fire a projectile, time for it to fly, etc.)

Strictly speaking tech probably allows it already, but does not offer much advantages over conventional weapons for most roles, and replacement/supplemental process is long and expensive.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Lasers?

They can't even penetrate navigation shields. Don't they know that?
 
Z

Zubz

Banned
Why couldn't we wait until we had a president who wasn't morally bankrupt to try these? It'll just take 1 war crime & laser weaponry will be ruined forever for me.
 
B

bsp

Member
Epsilon-delta said:
LASERS ARE RED TO ME BSP.
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I'm guilty of also imagining red beams when I hear "laser." :0)

Metroidvania said:
Wait, maybe I'm missing something, but why would the laser need to be continually on?

Isn't the objective of point defense to be short controlled bursts to take down targets? (Which could still play hell with any type of current battery in terms of draining it, but still)

Or is this still using human 'visual' guidance systems, which would just require 'squeeze and hold until acquisition' targeting
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What makes you think it is continually on? You fire on the target until it is destroyed, then turn it off.

Zubz said:
Why couldn't we wait until we had a president who wasn't morally bankrupt to try these? It'll just take 1 war crime & laser weaponry will be ruined forever for me.
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Trump has about zero connection to anything to do with this weapon and what war crime would it uniquely achieve? A 60kw laser isn't a death beam.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Regulus Tera said:
It's the US military. This shit is gonna be deployed against enemy combatants as soon as the technology allows it.
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Who really cares whether you get killed by a laser or a bullet or a bomb, though? Practical realities dictate that laser weapons are limited by line of sight and by distance. The intensity of the weapon reduces substantially over distance, and that effect is enhanced by the atmosphere causing diffraction. Unlike field artillery, tank cannons and missiles, these weapons are completely useless in a non-line of sight situation because they are not self-propelled, they are not guided, and they do not curve with the Earth's gravity (at least not at a tactically useful level). Unlike conventional firearms, these are highly expensive and difficult to produce.

This leaves us with the small number of applications where they are cost effective and still useful - short and medium range point defense or related CRAM operations. Although it's true that a 60kw laser could kill an individual human, it's also true that a 35mm German autocannon used for the same purpose could blow a human into chunky salsa.

The only program I'm aware of that intended to use laser weapons against ground targets was ATL, which wanted to use them to minimise collateral damage when performing strikes on ground targets. That program got cancelled, but even if it had a future successor that's not particularly terrifying or alarming. If you didn't need that level of precision you can use cheaper and more effective conventional munitions for that job.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
bsp said:
What makes you think it is continually on? You fire on the target until it is destroyed, then turn it off.
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I took it from the article.

To protect American soldiers from low-budget drone fleets, the Army would need a highly mobile laser that can sit on the back of a truck. The agency would have to find a way to carry enough battery power to fire continually without the truck overheating.
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Ofc, the Post could just be misinformed as to the requirements, or what 'continual use' means in terms of an uninterrupted stream vs just constant flicking like I described.
 
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