Posted on 03/01/2016 8:20:23 PM PST by MtnClimber
The Pentagon kills language. Housing the brain and central coordinating organs of the most advanced military the world has ever known, the Depart of Defense headquarters can take an announcement as exciting as "the U.S. Army is working on laser guns" and distill it to, in the words of Mary J. Miller, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, "aligned to transition into a program of record in the fiscal 2023 timeframe." Make no mistake: bland phrasing aside, the Army is going to fund laser weapon development in the next decade.
The remarks came last week as part of testimony before House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, and the laser program mention isn't really an offensive weapon. The laser program will supplement "Indirect Fire Protection Capability," an awkward way to say "tools that shoot down drones, mortars, artillery, rockets, and missiles." The current program wants to do that with missiles. Israel's Iron Dome is a good example of a similar system, built to intercept cheap unguided rockets fired at cities. It's effective, at a price: a pair of interceptor missiles costs about $50,000, which is between 50 and 100 times the price of the simple rockets they're made to protect against.
Lasers could change the economics of shooting down missiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
I bet they also become offensive weapons too.
Why are we announcing this?
Obama wants to be fair to our enemies?
Because we already fielded a laser weapon on a ship in the Persian Gulf. For all the caterwauling about the F-35, it will be the first fighter sized aircraft with a directed energy weapon. Its just a matter of time.
I wonder how they will work in rain, snow or through clouds.
Dunno for sure, but there may be Geneva Convention stuff about laser offensive use against personnel. How that translates into shooting down something that may have a pilot, lawyer crap.
“I bet they also become offensive weapons too.”
That is the plan.
All of the Military Services have programs to develop laser weapons - for defensive and offensive operations. The same laser that can intercept a mortar round, can be directed against a vehicle, person or building.
The HMMWV mounted version that they are developing for the Marines for air defense on the move, has engaging ground targets as one of its requirements.
Special Operations is pushing for early deployment on their AC-130 gunships, for ground attack. The laser that already deployed aboard the USS Ponce in the Gulf, can be directed against targets in the air, on the sea or on land. At 30 KiloWatts, it can burn holes in metal in a few seconds.
The power keeps going up, while the size and weight keep dropping. They are now looking to mount 30-50 KW on HMMWVs, and 100-300 KW on ships and planes.
They will be great offensive weapons, because you can power them from the engines, and keep firing as much as you can dissipate the heat, to keep from melting your weapons.
Oh, and they are invisible!
Things just seem to start burning, dying and blowing up.
“ARMY PLANS TO HAVE LASER WEAPON BY 2023”
Actually:
“ARMY PLANS TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HAVE LASER WEAPONS BY 2023”
Thanks
No good if Red China takes us out before then.
When you’ve got 1.5 Billion people, you can lose a few hundred million and never miss them.
Lessons Learned: Be prepared NOW!
Sheldon built one when he was 10.
There was a similar line in the movie “Red Dawn” when the downed American pilot Boothes Powers told the guerrilla warfare army of US kids that the U.S. had been joined by the 600 Million people of Red China in the fight against the Russians/Cubans, etc.
At least one earthquake thinned the herd a little when it literally wiped out the oil-city of Tanjou or something like that about 15 years ago. Unfortunately these were probably good, non Party people.
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