US Navy fries aircraft with shipboard laser

[Joecooool]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2G0-oRVZd0

Can't wait to put one of these up in space. We will be able to fry bad guys with the click of a mouse. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il better stock up on some 1000 spf sunscreen...

[soad]

Not bad at all.

[hornetrider]

Pew pew pew!

Frickin' awesome.

[OnTheOverrun]

Lets just hope our pesky enemies don't realise it can only hurt you if you fly very slowly, very low and in a dead straight line for the 30 seconds odd it takes while your plane slowly catches fire!

[Eric Mc]

Nice of the pilot to fly the target aircraft nice and slow and level with no evasive action undertaken whatsoever for as long as was needed for the laser to burn through the airframe.

1 out of 10 for a realistic demonstration.

[hornetrider]

Eric Mc said:

Nice of the pilot to fly the target aircraft nice and slow and level with no evasive action undertaken whatsoever for as long as was needed for the laser to burn through the airframe.

1 out of 10 for a realistic demonstration.

I was going to take the piss Eric as I presumed it was unmanned - however does someone bail at 28 secs in that video?! There is some debris coming off as it breaks up but it looks like someone may have bailed. Surely not though.

[AJLintern]

They can take out missiles and artillery shells too it seems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_High_Energy_...

[Joecooool]

Eric Mc said:

Nice of the pilot to fly the target aircraft nice and slow and level with no evasive action undertaken whatsoever for as long as was needed for the laser to burn through the airframe.

1 out of 10 for a realistic demonstration.

If you were getting hit on the bottom or rear of the plane, the pilot would never know he was under attack until his plane exploded.

I also suspect that if they were carrying ordinance on the wings, the process would be expedited.

[grumbledoak]

Though they did seem to be flying pretty straight and level, they would not necessarily have known they were under attack. Do we know the range?

BTW, what was the plane? Looked pretty stealthy, surely they wouldn't waste a real one for this demo?

Edited by grumbledoak on Tuesday 20th July 18:34

[Balmoral Green]

What if the enemy have a mirror?

[soad]

Balmoral Green said:

What if the enemy have a mirror?

Good point

[grumbledoak]

Balmoral Green said:

What if the enemy have a mirror?

Could you see the beam?

[AJLintern]

I'd have thought getting a good enough mirror finish would be difficult. Also wouldn't make for very good conventional camouflage!

Edited by AJLintern on Tuesday 20th July 18:43

[Jimbeaux]

An energy weapon (proton beam, whatever) would not be affected by mirrors and clouds. Are they speaking solely of lasers?

[limpsfield]

UK Navy had them first

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/war/we've-got-l...

[Sheets Tabuer]

AJLintern said:

I'd have thought getting a good enough mirror finish would be difficult.

I dunno in a previous life I used to work on trumpf lasers and we had to spray aluminium to cover up the mirrored surface or you'd have had the beam bouncing around the room, they were only 3000w but would have taken your head clean off.

[grumbledoak]

Jimbeaux said:

An energy weapon (proton beam, whatever) would not be affected by mirrors and clouds. Are they speaking solely of lasers?

A particle beam's range in air isn't going to be enough, not unless you are powering it directly from the Sun and happy to rip the planets atmosphere right off.

[zac510]

Eric Mc said:

Nice of the pilot to fly the target aircraft nice and slow and level with no evasive action undertaken whatsoever for as long as was needed for the laser to burn through the airframe.

1 out of 10 for a realistic demonstration.

Maybe he was turning up the air con. "Getting a bit warm in here!"

[Rusty Arches]

Joecooool said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2G0-oRVZd0

Can't wait to put one of these up in space. We will be able to fry bad guys with the click of a mouse. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il better stock up on some 1000 spf sunscreen...

Here's hoping they nuke us first, it'd be a fair pre-emptive strike.

[hairykrishna]

Jimbeaux said:

An energy weapon (proton beam, whatever) would not be affected by mirrors and clouds. Are they speaking solely of lasers?

I presume that they're talking solely about lasers because any other type of 'energy weapon' doesn't exist outside of science fiction, at least not one that can actually work.