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The US Navy has developed a new anti-drone laser system, called the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), which is designed to counter unmanned aerial vehicles and attack methods similar to those in use by Iran’s navy, Navy officials revealed this week.
The LaWs was successfully tested in 2012 off the coast of California, where the laser was able to shoot down UAVs and unmanned boats with its beam, as shown in the following video, which was released by the US Navy on Monday.
The system is to be deployed in the Persian Gulf on the USS Ponce for much of 2014 in what a Navy official called an “operational demonstration,” according to a Monday Wired article.
Countries that operate “the kinds of threats this system is designed to deal with should pause” and “recognize” the “quick-reaction capability” of US technology, according to naval engineer Rear Admiral Thomas Eccles.
The effectiveness of LaWS in the field is still to be proven, and current laser technology is unable to stop a missile, jet fighter or manned military boat. According to Wired, the US Navy seeks to further develop laser technology as an effective way to counteract “the increasing cheapness and availability of powerful missiles and robots.”
The Navy remains silent on the infamous SWFLB project (Sharks With Freaking Laze Beems)
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Can they deploy them to shoot down the PETA drones? Might some decent field testing
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Ok, so what does Ponce mean in the US, because it has a different meaning over here and wouldn't be used as a name for a warship.
? Thats not used here whatever it means.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
I saw a full blown hipster just a few minutes ago in the tunnels. Dude this part of town is for real people who are working. Begone poncey scum!
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Its presumably easier to hit with a laser and probably more difficult to detect. You can see a missile coming in from miles away but you may not see a laser unless specifically looking for one.
Could also be quicker. 2-3 seconds on target and its fuel has been ignited.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Easy E wrote: Isn't a standard anti-aircraft weapon sufficient?
Do we really need an anti-drone laser?
Think about it: you can only fire so many bullets or missiles, and if they miss the target, they're gone, or worse, hit something they shouldn't. Lasers just need to stay on target and you can keep them going until the target is down.
The Kasrkin were just men. It made their actions all the more astonishing. Six white blurs, they fell upon the cultists, lasguns barking at close range. They wasted no shots. One shot, one kill. - Eisenhorn: Malleus
Easy E wrote: Isn't a standard anti-aircraft weapon sufficient?
Do we really need an anti-drone laser?
Standard anti-aircraft often use radar or heat signature to track their target. Drones are probably too small to get a decent heat signature on for missile lock, and systems like the Phalanx CIWS are great in open water but you need to keep a stock of ammunition and its something that you need to be careful operating with friendly/neutral forces in the area.
Easy E wrote: Isn't a standard anti-aircraft weapon sufficient?
Do we really need an anti-drone laser?
Standard anti-aircraft often use radar or heat signature to track their target. Drones are probably too small to get a decent heat signature on for missile lock, and systems like the Phalanx CIWS are great in open water but you need to keep a stock of ammunition and its something that you need to be careful operating with friendly/neutral forces in the area.
The signature piece is a good call out and makes sense.
For the record, I can see the general advantage of lasers of classic anti-aircraft missiles/guns. However, my point was, wouldn't it be mor eeffective of a deterrent to send standard AAA rather than an experimental weapon system.
Then again, it is all sabre-rattling, and "look how Uber" we are one-upsmanship at this point. Essentially saying, you have exocets, speed boats, and your new "jet" fighter. We've got a laser. Don't bring an Exocet to a laser fighter.
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Easy E wrote: The signature piece is a good call out and makes sense.
For the record, I can see the general advantage of lasers of classic anti-aircraft missiles/guns. However, my point was, wouldn't it be mor eeffective of a deterrent to send standard AAA rather than an experimental weapon system.
Then again, it is all sabre-rattling, and "look how Uber" we are one-upsmanship at this point. Essentially saying, you have exocets, speed boats, and your new "jet" fighter. We've got a laser. Don't bring an Exocet to a laser fighter.
Occasionally my synapses fire in the right order Traditional AAA is still effective, and the warship with the LAWS system will no doubt be deployed with others using conventional systems. But we also have to look at where its being deployed - the Persian Gulf. Its being parked beside Iran. A country which has frustrated attempts to investigate its nuclear program, is in negotiation over its nuclear program, which has funded insurgencies in Iraq, which is giving material support to the Assad regime in Syria and which captured an American UAV and said it had copied its design. So I believe that part of this deployment is for psychological effect, especially when Israeli media is carrying reports on its deployment, and also to show US allies in the region that they still take them seriously despite North Korea's current distraction.
In the wider context there is also the prestige element to consider. No other country has made this technological leap forward so that puts them above their current and emerging rivals.
