Posted on 01/12/2018 9:30:04 AM PST by Red Badger
THE US Navy will mount a laser weapon onto a top-class warship, defence officials confirmed.
Top Navy officials said the device is slated to be installed on the USS Portland by this autumn.
Crucially, the prototype will not be used in combat, but may pave the way for high-tech lasers that will be used during warfare.
Captain Brian Metcalfe said: “They’ve got what I call ‘power modules’ that control the laser that will just fit in those open and reserve weight spaces and then the laser itself gets bolted onto the deck.
“It’s not going to be integrated into the warfare system, it won’t be providing tracking data or classification data.
DESTROYER: The lasers could be used in conflicts in the near future
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“The ship’s going to go use the thing and then we’ll start talking about how do you make this part of the ship’s total systems.
He added: “But for now it’s a bolt-on, it’s designed to be a temporary thing.”
The US has pumped billions into its military and navy over fears it could go to war with China.
US-China relations boffin Zhang Yancheng said the countries’ tense relationship risked throwing the world into a harrowing nuclear conflict.
He said: “A key issue for 2018 is whether we can avoid international conflicts and confrontation, and the relationship between China and the US will largely decide if the world can move past the current globalisation interlude.”
His comment were made at a panel on the relationship between China and the US.
But the Trump could see his presidency end if he fails his upcoming medical test.
Trump, aged 71, will undergo his first presidential physical examination at the Walter Reed Medical Centre in Maryland later today.
So whre on the ship is the laser?
It’s a secret................
Typically, it is a turret bolted on the foredeck. They can also be mounted on the Superstructure.
We have had one mounted on the USS Ponce in the Gulf for a few years now. They can throttle the power down to just dazzle or blind, or crank it up (to 300KW) to set fires or burn holes in metal. It can be used against craft on the water, or targets in the air or on land - long reach and a bottomless magazine.
I am interested to see what the power is. As the power rises, you can start slapping down aerial targets quickly.
USS Ponce (up on the Superstructure):
Announcement of geewhiz vapourware no way related to need to distract from last months Zumwalt failure
Typically, it is a turret bolted up on the Superstructure. Line of sight, the higher the better - so someday perhaps they will crow's nest-like turrets for 360 degree coverage. In the photo, it is on the turret between the two phased array radars.
We have had one mounted on the USS Ponce in the Gulf for a few years now. They can throttle the power down to just dazzle or blind, or crank it up (to 300KW) to set fires or burn holes in metal. It can be used against craft on the water, or targets in the air or on land - long reach and a bottomless magazine.
I am interested to see what the power is. As the power rises, you can start slapping down aerial targets quickly.
USS Ponce (up on the Superstructure):
Oh, I thought that was a Phalanx turret.
The hope is that they will be able to use the lasers to replace Phalanx eventually, when the power gets high enough.
Inherently faster (speed of light), and a theoretically endless magazine, they are planned as the cure for swarm attacks.
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