Anti Drone Laser Weapon for Army

[ArmyVet]

I want one of these..!

https://www.raytheon.com/news/feature/laser_dune_buggy


Dune buggy fun and firepower

 

[LoneRCRanger]

Mr. Sulu, set all Phazers to stun!!!

 

[Spork]

This is some cool stuff. Thanks @ArmyVet

 

[LoneRCRanger]

OK, so there is a laser weapon that will take a drone down but, can it take a NK Ballistic Missile down? Which would be more significant, a sneaky drone or a nuclear tipped missile aimed at L.A.?

 

[ArmyVet]

Patriot Missile system been around since the gulf war.



Aegis Missile system been around a long time also.

Your tax dollars and Military at work for you.

 

[LoneRCRanger]

Yeah, use a missile to shoot down a missile. But I referenced the Buck Roger's Death Ray, didn't I? The Patriots didn't get every SCUD the Iraqis launched. With nukes you can't have any miss.

 

[roger jones]

I read about a frequency based targeted blasts.
Although the laser beam did sound very James Bond

Following a quick google, a frequency based option.
https://www.droneshield.com/dronegun-tactical/

 

[Gyro Doctor]

... What's so "new and high tech" about all this ? ... Hell, I had a laser I could weld with back in the seventies !
Also made many an RF jammer too ... Turn it up high enough and it went from "jammer" to "fryer" ... lol ... could smoke
the electronics in anything you pointed it at (and not just overloading the RF either, it could fry the "brains" too).

 

[Gyro Doctor]

Patriots didn't get every SCUD the Iraqis launched. With nukes you can't have any miss.

You're absolutely correct ... The Patriot missile defense system was really a lot of hype ... it got a lot of press and hoopla but in actuality
it's really not all it's made out to be.
"Brilliant Pebbles" ( and Eyes) now THAT's another whole ballgame right there .... but shhhhh ..... we're not supposed to know about all that

 

[ArmyVet]

... What's so "new and high tech" about all this ? ... Hell, I had a laser I could weld with back in the seventies !
Also made many an RF jammer too ... Turn it up high enough and it went from "jammer" to "fryer" ... lol ... could smoke
the electronics in anything you pointed it at (and not just overloading the RF either, it could fry the "brains" too).

Yeah but could you ride your laser up on sand dunes

 

[ArmyVet]

You're absolutely correct ... The Patriot missile defense system was really a lot of hype ... it got a lot of press and hoopla but in actuality
it's really not all it's made out to be.
"Brilliant Pebbles" ( and Eyes) now THAT's another whole ballgame right there .... but shhhhh ..... we're not supposed to know about all that

It was the best available. And yes every scud that was fired did not get shot down. And neither was every scud engaged.

The value in morale was not quantifiable. And keeping Israel out of the war was huge!

Post script:
Patriots have been fired some 600 times in tests and exercises since 1991 and have benefitted from decades of advances in computing, radar, guidance, and software. Today’s Patriot uses phased-array radar that sees better through urban “clutter.” Its missiles launch faster and, with improved fins and attitude control, are more nimble than those of the 1991 system.

 

[Gyro Doctor]

Yeah but could you ride your laser up on sand dunes

Easily ... lol ... the prototype was bolted onto a workbench, but the final iteration was the size of a suitcase.
This was an industrial grade (but home made) Carbon Dioxide laser that could literally cut a car in half.
The problem with it was it's invisible. I had to buy some seriously expensive goggles just to be able to observe
the beam (off axis of course) in order to fine tune it. Eventually I swapped the cheap brewster windows for some
expensive front surface silvered mirrors then added Q-switching and an active cooling system for more energy in
short pulses rather than a beam. It could start a fire from over a mile away
Feel free to google some of these terms for a better understanding of exactly what I'm saying here

 

[Gyro Doctor]

It was the best available.

VERY FEW people have any idea what's actually "available".
Keep in mind the militarized industrial projects divisions (like DARPA) keep the general public in the dark
with regards to what capabilities we really have, to the tune of about a fifty year delay.
You would literally refuse to believe me if I told you what we're actually capable of (which, of course, I wouldn't anyway)
but suffice to say, if it's "public knowledge" then it's already obsolete.

 

[ArmyVet]

VERY FEW people have any idea what's actually "available".
Keep in mind the militarized industrial projects divisions (like DARPA) keep the general public in the dark
with regards to what capabilities we really have, to the tune of about a fifty year delay.
You would literally refuse to believe me if I told you what we're actually capable of (which, of course, I wouldn't anyway)
but suffice to say, if it's "public knowledge" then it's already obsolete.

Darpa, Skunk Works, Phantom Works and their Ilk notwithstanding, I stand by my use of what "was available" and in the pipeline for use by those on the front lines. That's what counted at the time and still counts today.

Iron Man and Stark Industries would be the exception

 

[Spork]

Exactly. Just think about the power of the internet and how long it existed before “regular people” even heard about it. Also DARPA initiates IIRC.

 

[Gyro Doctor]

internet and how long it existed before “regular people” even heard about it

I was on the internet before it was what people think of it as today.
There were not even any graphics capabilities AT ALL.
It was basically nothing but (green) lines of text which was ridiculously difficult to type and if even one character
was out of place (a space where none should be or no space where one should be) then when you hit "enter" nothing
at all would happen (if you were lucky) or worse the computer would just "lock up" on you.

I had some 5 1/4" floppies (remember those?) that were full of interesting codes I'd sometimes mess with people by sending them.
Using UNIX code on any DOS platform (which "Windows OS" WAS still based upon) could let you do some pretty cool stuff ... lol ...
for instance, I could generate bogus error messages on any computer like:

"WARNING WARNING (flashing) Water detected in system, stand by for remedial action" at which point the hard drive would rev
up at max speed (and back then you would know that, because it was loud and could be even be felt) after which the screen would say
"Spin dry effective, error resolved" or words to that effect.

My favorite one was where letters would just randomly fall out of place from any text on the screen into a pile at the bottom.

Another fun one was that every other key press would flip the screen upside down ... lol ... these were all pretty much just harmless
pranks.

There also were, of course, more malicious codes that would let you (for instance) seize control of another computer. It was simply the
injection of snippets from some networking protocols that would tell the other computer (unbeknownst to that user) that it was now
linked to you, so you and the actual on site user had the exact same permissions. Whatever you typed on your keyboard could appear
on their screen (which was a real mind screw because then they'd KNOW they've been hacked) or if you wanted to get really nasty you
could just quietly start a tape worm (completely fills up the hard drive and ties up every bit of memory too) or maybe just
reformat their hard drive for them.