Posted on 01/23/2010 9:13:11 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
You spot an IED from a Predator or the guy on point spots it. An armored vehicle rolls up and zaps it with a laser, blowing the sucker up. No one has to don a suit or get out of a vehicle. Neat, huh?
It’s not often that we’ll respond to a plain old company press release but Boeing has tested just such a laser system that looks as if it could really make a difference to troops in the field today.
If it’s far enough along to actually rumble over broken terrain, fire and be maintained in the field this is the sort of weapon that could help change the balance The company completed a test in late September of the Laser Avenger combat vehicle. Its laser zapped 50 IEDs “similar to those used by adversaries in war zones.” (Their press people could have just said Quds, AQI and Taliban, but…)
“The system operated at safe distances from the targets and under a variety of conditions, including different angles and ranges. Soldiers traveling with Laser Avenger would not have to get out of their armored vehicles or wait for an explosive ordnance disposal team to destroy an IED and continue their mission,” the release says. Now that is something to move to the field as soon as practicable
(Excerpt) Read more at dodbuzz.com ...
And burn a hole in the enemy with it when an opportunity presents itself.
A great way to pre-det an IED. It will be fun to use especially when the varmints who place these bombs get zapped in the act of setting the device.
Yabbut, can you use it as a cigarette lighter in a pinch?
if they spot the IED and they’re willing to destroy/trigger it in place, why not just shoot it from a distance with a gun?
or is Dr. Evil working for DOD now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw
ping
Yep. It’s spotting the IED’s that is the problem, not destroying them from a distance.
All I want to know is ? will it cook my eggs and bacon in 5 seconds flat ?
“Yep. It’s spotting the IED’s that is the problem, not destroying them from a distance.”
I expect anything from the Ma Deuce on up would do fine.
IMO we need ground vehicles equipped with the Apache 30mm cannon - that seems to work pretty well. ;-)
Is that the super secret Rove earthquake, landslide, mudslide, tornado, drought, hurricane, flood, hole in ozone layer, global warming, climate change, Gulf dead zone, and sex toy that Hugo has managed to ferret out?
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
Now . . . if we could just as easily and safely take care of some
. . . other . . . enemies . . .
They would not be rushing a weapon that does not work to the battlefield.
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