Global Conflict

So today the US unveiled their latest iteration of their ship mounted laser weapon.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/technology/u ... 6615482023

the article wrote:Testing has revealed it is disrupted by bad weather: Rain and clouds can scatter the beam, as can smoke, sand and dust.

It's on a ship... at sea... Last time I checked rain/clouds/mist were pretty common.

The wars of the future will be won or lost on the quality of the weather reports

Now Americans can actually yell, "This is the LaWS!" (Laser Weapon System) as they mindlessly fire.

Bear in mind, this is not envisioned as a replacement for RAMs, CIWS, Phalanx, Goalkeeper, etc. This is a supplementary defense weapon capable of engaging land/sea/air targets without the costs associated with munitions-based countermeasures. Those will still be on-board and capable of intercepting threats when the LaWS can't.

Calloutman wrote:

the article wrote:Testing has revealed it is disrupted by bad weather: Rain and clouds can scatter the beam, as can smoke, sand and dust.

It's on a ship... at sea... Last time I checked rain/clouds/mist were pretty common.

The wars of the future will be won or lost on the quality of the weather reports

Read through and then reached that last paragraph.... hmmm that might be a slight problem

What if the target has a reflective coating? Does it still work?

RazY70 wrote:

Calloutman wrote:

the article wrote:Testing has revealed it is disrupted by bad weather: Rain and clouds can scatter the beam, as can smoke, sand and dust.

It's on a ship... at sea... Last time I checked rain/clouds/mist were pretty common.

The wars of the future will be won or lost on the quality of the weather reports

Read through and then reached that last paragraph.... hmmm that might be a slight problem

What if the target has a reflective coating? Does it still work?

What if the target simply fires a smoke grenade in front of it? I mean it's barely a prototype and obviously there are lots of problems with it right now.

Reflective coating = Hello Radar Bloom! So that's not going to be done.

Smoke? A land vehicle or surface vessel, that might work, though it's obviously limited. Aircraft?...not going to work for obvious reasons.

This is a prototype, as has been mentioned. Part of the development process is creating more powerful systems, which will allow for greater engagement ranges. Once you have more power, the beam scattering issues prove less and less problematic.

RazY70 wrote:What if the target has a reflective coating? Does it still work?

I don't think so. You'll notice the plane they shot down was painted black to absorb all the laser light... so they kinda cheated a little.

TacticalVirus wrote:This is a prototype, as has been mentioned. Part of the development process is creating more powerful systems, which will allow for greater engagement ranges. Once you have more power, the beam scattering issues prove less and less problematic.

At least in cloud/light mist, this is probably the case. The laser will never work in rain though as the droplets act as prisms which scatter the light, a more powerful laser wouldn't change that.

sounds similar to the Nautilus/skyguard projects
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_High_Energy_Laser

The important question is will BF4 feature it? Could be handy for us TAs to laser those not following the rules.

Nautilus project was cancelled due to "poor anticipated results on the battlefield". this similar one suffers from the same problems.
if BF4 will feature it, it's gonna be bugged

Necromancer wrote:Nautilus project was cancelled due to "poor anticipated results on the battlefield". this similar one suffers from the same problems.
if BF4 will feature it, it's gonna be bugged

Oh my laz0rs.

.Sup wrote:The important question is will BF4 feature it? Could be handy for us TAs to laser those not following the rules.

haruky wrote:

.Sup wrote:The important question is will BF4 feature it? Could be handy for us TAs to laser those not following the rules.

Someone really should write another Deathstar petition...

laser cats already been used for long time now (the original SNL skeet is offline from the net.
the rest are mark of shame to human beings so no links).