US Navy Laser Weapon
 

Have I missed something, or is this new?


Video: US Navy tests $40 million laser weapon in Persian Gulf - Telegraph


Mister B

I will suggest to you that this item was tested quite a bit before it ever got over to the PG.

Suggest that this open "test" is a message being sent to some people in the region. ;)

It may also be a marketing ploy to get certain allies to buy these things?
Not sure.

Thanks LW50


I know the concept has been around for some time - this sort of thing was being mooted at an RAF Weapons Employment Course that I attended in the mid-1980s (but not as a viable airborne weapon system because of the weight of electrical generating kit required to power the beast).


Agreeing your comments fully - I meant was the video new; from the delivery platform, it looks fairly recent.


Mister B

Makes smoke screens seem pretty low tech.

When I read the article and it said, "The video, released by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), shows the LaWS system detonating a rocket propelled grenade" I was imagining it destroying it in flight and was standing-by to be very impressed.

Instead it destroyed one being towed at 5-10kts. :\:uhoh:

Even the UAV kill was mostly head sector with very little spin rate.

Further lazy journalism - "burning out the engine" and "burns out the hull". Neither of these things happen.

Nice toy though...

Ze Germans have this for a yr or so

BBC News - Rheinmetall demos laser that can shoot down drones

it's useful against small objects, I guess israeli might be interested to take down hamas rockets with them, should be more efficient than iron dome