You can’t be serious. A laser that could cut through steel can not only blind, but cause the eyeballs to burst like eggs in a microwave.
chinese laser weapon development
- Thread starter maozedong
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You can’t be serious. A laser that could cut through steel can not only blind, but cause the eyeballs to burst like eggs in a microwave.
Yes, but the law is specifically against lasers designed only to blind but not do much else (dazzlers), it has no provisions for lasers aimed at maiming and killing, which 30 kw systems are easily capable of doing and thus would not fall under such restrictions.
Either way I would not want to see it used on humans, with or without law restrictions.
Guaranteed it's only a matter of time.
Lasers would suck at suppressing infantry. The sound of supersonic bullets and impact noises are what suppresses the infantry according to many studies.
I am not sure about lasers' penetration against fortifications either.
Yes, since laser weapons are very concentrated so would not be immediately lethal or cause shock, which would most likely be a excruciating death for anyone unfortunately enough to be the target of such a system.
I'm going to assume a laser CIWS will have a good sensor suite, i.e infrared/night vision, as such it doesn't necessarily need to suppress infantry, just aim at them.
I asked about the effectiveness of lasers in ground combat on Quora. I got some good answers. The summary is they are not effective at all. They would be lethal against infantry without any cover from long distances. But that is mostly irrelevant since infantry is never in open.
First one:
This is a 5kw unit at point blank range on a 1x1m concrete block. It achieved 10mm of penetration at a movement rate of 3cm a minute.
Laser performance drops massively over range, chances are it’ll do next to nothing to concrete.
Second one:
Not professional in this field, but the last zap test I saw took 2 minutes to fry an engine at about 20 meters. Maybe a little less. A kilometer would be 50 times the distance. Atmospheric scatter would probably make that 2–3 hours, but the test I saw was almost 20 years ago, so laser was probably 5Kw or less? Greater power and focus, pickup engine is on fire in about a minute.
But if the truck moves? Suddenly 5 times as long. On concrete. 10 times as long if it kicks up dirt. Forever and a half if it pulls behind a building.
If the laser is combined with particle beam, the laser can cut through the atmosphere to the truck and charged particles hit target. My understanding is it could punch into metal and throwing sparks like a microwave oven with metal in it. This might have an electromagnetic effect on target, frying electronics and preventing a vehicle from moving.
One human targets, 80’s sci-fi fiction proposed tuning laser to steam blood. Then it causes steam explosions. Like disabling safety features of a microwave and putting hand inside, then pumping vastly more power into it. Like overcooking meat in a microwave.
All that, and the laser is still taking longer to kill the truck than a burst from a .30 or .50. Either hits the engine block with a bullet and the truck is likely to stop in less than a second. If armor piercing, more likely. Lasers are fun, but guns still cheaper. Lasers can be disrupted by smoke, bullets aren’t, even when there is glitter in the smoke.
2–3 clicks against targets much smaller and light than trucks, lasers are suddenly very effective.
First one:
This is a 5kw unit at point blank range on a 1x1m concrete block. It achieved 10mm of penetration at a movement rate of 3cm a minute.
Laser performance drops massively over range, chances are it’ll do next to nothing to concrete.
Second one:
Not professional in this field, but the last zap test I saw took 2 minutes to fry an engine at about 20 meters. Maybe a little less. A kilometer would be 50 times the distance. Atmospheric scatter would probably make that 2–3 hours, but the test I saw was almost 20 years ago, so laser was probably 5Kw or less? Greater power and focus, pickup engine is on fire in about a minute.
But if the truck moves? Suddenly 5 times as long. On concrete. 10 times as long if it kicks up dirt. Forever and a half if it pulls behind a building.
If the laser is combined with particle beam, the laser can cut through the atmosphere to the truck and charged particles hit target. My understanding is it could punch into metal and throwing sparks like a microwave oven with metal in it. This might have an electromagnetic effect on target, frying electronics and preventing a vehicle from moving.
One human targets, 80’s sci-fi fiction proposed tuning laser to steam blood. Then it causes steam explosions. Like disabling safety features of a microwave and putting hand inside, then pumping vastly more power into it. Like overcooking meat in a microwave.
All that, and the laser is still taking longer to kill the truck than a burst from a .30 or .50. Either hits the engine block with a bullet and the truck is likely to stop in less than a second. If armor piercing, more likely. Lasers are fun, but guns still cheaper. Lasers can be disrupted by smoke, bullets aren’t, even when there is glitter in the smoke.
2–3 clicks against targets much smaller and light than trucks, lasers are suddenly very effective.
Sky Shield could attack while on the move:
If I am not mistaken this is the first ground based system with this ability. It is more difficult than you think since it requires precise stabilization of the laser when the platform is bobbing up and down.
If I am not mistaken this is the first ground based system with this ability. It is more difficult than you think since it requires precise stabilization of the laser when the platform is bobbing up and down.
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MwRYum
Major
I seriously doubt if that thing got enough output to kill an individual faster than an MG can.
Never mention it only targets one man a time while an MG can send a barrage to pin down or wipe out an entire squad in same time period.