May the Force be with you!
 

The U.S. Navy is now just two years away from arming it’s ships with the first generation of ‘directed energy’ laser weapons.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/...77_634x430.jpg

According to Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, the chief of the Office of Naval Research, a series of successful tests in recent months have enabled the Navy to halve its predicted timeline for mounting laser weapons on vessels.

A shot from a laser weapon is estimated to cost the Navy the equivalent of less than a dollar.

U.S. Navy just two years away from arming warships with laser weapons capable of destroying incoming missiles and aircraft | Mail Online

Sounds a bit like 'Star Wars' to me.The project-not the film.

Why does laser appear with a @ and not an a when you post here?

It'll be just like shooting Womp rats in Beggars Canyon back home...

Be interesting to see how composite material aircraft compare to traditional metal in their ability to resist/deflect/absorb the energy; watching the video it took 2-3 seconds to do some damage to the casing of an outboard motor.
Any proper laser geeks out there?

Pretty Blue..

apparently it appears with an @ so that the word l@ser will not appear in google searches thus leading the neds and journos to the threads discussing l@ser attacks on aircraft.

Unless they search for laser!

cover the defensive item in tinfoil and it'll bounce the ray straight back!

INVOICE. To US Defense Dept.

Consultancy advice on effectiveness of l@ser death-ray, or lack thereof.
$5 billion.
unmarked ,un forged, clean of BMP* notes only ,please.

Ta, muchly, you just got a bargain, Guv.


*BMP..Bolivian Marching Powder

So are you now safe to attack the USN in cloudy weather or fog?

If you have a big mirror, can you reflect the beam back at the ship?

Will the warship be classified as a "Light Cruiser"?

Just wondered......

"Commence primary ignition......"

I thought blinding pilots with lasers was illegal ... :E

Squeeze off one laser blast, and everyone else knows exactly where you are. Even without any radar capability....?

Am I the only one who can see a flaw in this cunning plan......? :hmm:

But there'll be multiple blasts from the squadron of friggin sharks with laser beams on their heads, so they won't know which one fired at them silly.

How about a Fire Command of ... "Set to stun ... FIRE !"

How can we guarantee that the baddies will use red lasers?

The laser they showed is obviously a CW one. The ones I think they will use will be high powered pulsed lasers.
I do know ( but can't say much), of a type I worked on, they "ganged" up 10 to experiment over 8yrs ago to shoot down airborne objects.
A lot has been developed since, I should imagine.

Not entirely true with the above type.

Since all the other weapons on the ship have exactly the same issue (you HAVE seen the muzzle flash a gun creates [much less the flare created by an operating missile motor], haven't you?), then yes... apparently you are the only one to think that missiles and guns can be fired without betraying the firing ship's location.

The wavelength used is not visible to the naked eye.

What the wavelength used does to the naked eye is another matter...

wonder if this will have any dircm applications once miniturised?