Posted on 03/02/2017 10:41:02 AM PST by Red Badger
The Silent Hunter laser is powerful enough to cut through light vehicle armor at up to a kilometer away, making you wonder if China already has more powerful laser weapons only for domestic use. ============================================================================================================================
Poly Technologies showed off The Silent Hunter, one of the world's most powerful laser weapons. It claims an output of at least 50-70 kilowatts, which would make it more powerful than the 33-kilowatt laser weapon systems (LaWS) currently deployed on the USS Ponce. The laser is probably based on a smaller anti-drone laser, the Low Altitude Guard.
That's enough to knock out automobiles by burning out their engines from over a mile away, as the 30-kilowatt Lockheed Martin ATHENA laser demonstrated in 2015. The Silent Hunter uses fibre optic lasers (fibre optics doped with rare earth minerals), which provide weight savings over chemical lasers through increasing optical gain by kilometers of coiled fibre optics (as opposed to bulky chemical lasers).
The Silent Hunter is likely to be scaled up and equipped with radars to complement its optical/infrared tracking system, making it a capable close range defense system against enemy missiles, artillery, drones and aircraft.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) recently came out with report that China is "near parity" with western nations in terms of indigenous defense technology.
As we can see from IDEX 2017, that is playing out in fields that range from tanks to lasers. And as the Chinese defense industry innovates more, it will likely grab an even bigger share of international arms sales.
It might work a few times or last several years.
HF stuff is a roll of the dice.
Slice? Maybe if hooked to a nuclear reactor. Punch holes? Absolutely.
While their at it, make laser machetes. They could market them as "light sabers."
We just need to make something bigger, badder, faster, and more lethal. And while we’re at it, clamp down on sensitive technology transfers to china through scholastic espionage, and root out spies at our national labs.
“It would seem to me that any reasonable amount of battlefield dust or smoke would diffuse ...”
Possibly a laser that powerful would vaporize dust/smoke/fog that was in it’s way - up to a certain point.
The shell of a car is very thin metal compared to the shell of an armored vehicle or tank.
In any event, I wouldn’t want that thing pointed at me.
Just one more step towards the opening scenes of the first Terminator film.
Destro’s mask with enough polish might be a viable defense.
I’m sure someone else has already thought of this, but how about shooting out a cloud of miniature corner cube retroreflectors when a laser strike is detected? Unless the laser pulse is very short, the beam will be reflected BACK where it came from, albeit much distorted.
Hope the Chinese don’t get any ideas from the old Star Blazers.
The Gamelons used mirrors.
Over? With 1 kilometer range the horizon will not even be getting nervous.
“Do you expect me to talk Goldfinger”? “No Mr. Bond...I expect you to die!!” Classic!
They sent their kids to US universities..................
Always wondered if they paid the Japanese production company copyright fees for the name.
I can’t watch YouTube unless I go somewhere with public wifi, it just uses up my data plan way too fast.
“They sent their kids to US universities..................”
Yep, and the Uniparty is just fine with it. No need for background checks for ANYBODY who wants to come into our country.
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