Comments on: A New Laser Age

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:35:05 +0000

Also, the laser is not a parallel beam but a cone focused at the target. A weapons-grade laser, at the target, isn’t much reflected by mirrors; the intensity of energy deposition is such that it burns through them. The shorter the laser pulse and the smaller the spot size at the target (for a given energy), the more pronounced this effect is. ABM lasers do have to deal with reflective surfaces as a defense because their targets are so far away that it’s hard to focus the beam down to a point.

Even if it did work, coating a mortar round in lab-grade mirrors that can survive being fired from a mortar tube (probably some sort of sabot approach would do the trick) already represents a tremendous amount of virtual attrition.

By: Candide III

Candide III — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 08:58:11 +0000

Probably neither, you need high-quality precision optics for that. I don’t think it’s easy to make precision optics robust enough to shoot it from a mortar. The laws of physics don’t prohibit it, but the round will probably be very expensive. Also, it’s difficult to damage a laser by reflecting its light back into it, since a laser is already reflecting most of its light within itself.

By: Alrenous

Alrenous — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 06:16:32 +0000

If I cover a mortar round in retroreflectors, will it substantially damage the laser or just end up blinding everyone near the truck?

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 00:15:39 +0000

As always, there is no defense that cannot be saturated. The question comes down to relative effectiveness, which shifts with technological developments and the dance of countermeasure, countercountermeasure, etc. Also keep in mind the importance of virtual attrition – rounds aimed at defenses are yet more rounds deducted from those aimed at what’s being defended.

The ABL was designed to knock down boosting ICBMs hundreds of km away, and used complicated, high-power, and somewhat outdated technology for the actual beam generation. The lasers being discussed for deployment as point-defense in the next decade are solid-state laser diode units designed to knock down artillery and mortar shells from <1 km away in rapid succession.

By: Alrenous

Alrenous — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 22:14:35 +0000

Lasers favour ground troops — unless they’re so expensive the best way to take out an anti-missile laser is two missiles. 747-sized means a lot of metal, which means a lot of dollars. It also means a large, stationary target, meaning the missile can accelerate without limit, as it doesn’t need to manoeuvre.

Tomahawks cost 1.6 million and probably aren’t even the most efficient option. Tanks are 6-9 million. The laser is probably more like the 747 it fits inside, a couple hundred million.

As for the truck-mounted one, the cheaper 120mm mortar rounds are $100-$200 each. Fire five of them at once? Hope your laser truck had insurance.

By: J.D. Saunders

J.D. Saunders — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 03:10:18 +0000

The world of David Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers made real. All that’s missing are the fusion-powered hovertanks, and the Helion Energy Fusion Engine is closing the gap on even that.

Aircraft die. First time, every time.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 01:51:07 +0000

Their chief limitation is how they interact with a simple Holtzman shield.

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 23:43:15 +0000

That is indeed a limitation, Andreas, but your enemy has to send something closer than the horizon to hurt you. Thus, while lasers aren’t necessarily ideal for long-range offensive applications, the current rate of development is likely to see them become very important for defensive purposes over the next 20 years or so.

By: Andreas

Andreas — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 21:42:59 +0000

Lasers can not strike anything beyond the horizon.

One might expand that horizon to nearly half of the planet with space-platform lasers. They might make sense at some point, but it seems they would remain vulnerable to any ground based laser that could see them.