Star Wars-Style Lasers Will Be on Fighter Jets in 2014

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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DARPA has a well-known fetish for taking ideas from science fiction movies and making them into reality. DARPA has taken a lead from Star Wars and I dare say more from Real Genius in designing, fitting and putting into practical application, liquid cooled lasers on fighter jets and bombers. Testing on the new technology begins next year.

DARPA and General Atomics announced they finished working on the laser turrets in 2012, and will now start integrating them on bomber and combat planes, with a goal of starting to test the technology in 2014.
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DeathPrincess said:
But what if the enemy planes are mirrored? :eek::D
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Yea. :D

As with many of the SDI schemes that involved Big Scary Lasers, all the 'bad guys' have to do to defeat the weapon is polish or mirror the surface of the aircraft or missile. Ablative materials can also be very effective, if somewhat more expensive to deploy.

I'm sure the Air Force's lasers will be very handy for zorching unshielded 'insurgents.' If nothing else, permanent blindness and severe burns ought to slow 'em down!
 
Now all we need a house...and a Giant Jiffy Pop to fill it with.
 
Geonerd said:
Yea. :D

As with many of the SDI schemes that involved Big Scary Lasers, all the 'bad guys' have to do to defeat the weapon is polish or mirror the surface of the aircraft or missile. Ablative materials can also be very effective, if somewhat more expensive to deploy.

I'm sure the Air Force's lasers will be very handy for zorching unshielded 'insurgents.' If nothing else, permanent blindness and severe burns ought to slow 'em down!
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Depending on the wavelength of the laser, "shiny" might be pretty expensive/difficult to achieve.
 
Whenever the subject of using lasers as weapons are mentioned there are always people making the argument that all you have to do is put a mirrored coating on your rocket/plane/etc. to protect them. As if the people designing these weapons have no idea that lasers can be reflected with a mirror. <facepalm>

It has already been pointed out that depending on the frequency of the laser, making reflective coatings that would work on a rocket and not add too much weight could be difficult. In addition, because of the power level of these lasers, the mirrors would have to be nearly perfect. Any imperfections would absorb the energy and melt the coatings. Since these lasers are pulsed, the first few would burn through the reflective coating and the remaining pulses would destroy the target.

Rockets and aircraft must be kept light, so they will always be "soft" targets. Their biggest defense is stealthiness (which is nullified by using reflective surfaces) and speed. Lasers can counter the speed element and rockets can't be stealthy, so they are vulnerable to laser weapons. And because of the weight issue, it will be very difficult to "armor" them against the lasers.
 
Seriously could you try to make more MOVIE tie-ins?? I people do not understand anything sciency unless it is some how like something is a mooovie.
Can't have anything with the word LASER without lame movie tie-ins that make no sense and have nothing to do with the article. AND just as many lame forum retorts with movie references and old and worn out memes.
UG! (ok Real Genius well ok :p not so fiction and not really sci-fi - blast got me there :rolleyes:)

next up "Star Trek-Like 'Tractor Beam' Has Been Created by Scientists"
Reality is . . no . . no they did not. nothing even close. even saying it is stretching even for fiction. since you need to be microscopic . . :confused:

Complete lame! and rather cheapening the REAL achievements and science going on. Oh well . . . Pew pew . . .
 
MajorDomo said:
DARPA has a well-known fetish for taking ideas from science fiction movies and making them into reality. DARPA has taken a lead from Star Wars and I dare say more from Real Genius in designing, fitting and putting into practical application, liquid cooled lasers on fighter jets and bombers. Testing on the new technology begins next year.
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You titled this wrong just like mashable did. Those are Star TREK style lasers.
 
Hey guys...as someone who works with Lasers from the low Mw to high W and Kw range I can tell you that no amount of "shiny" or ablative surface coating can deter the thermal transfer that a high powered chemical laser can focus over 1000th of an inch.

Basic laser operation will burn out its own optics and turning mirrors even on relatively low powered Mw solid state lasers. An incredibly high powered laser will overcome the reflectivity of "X" surface with heat pretty quickly.

So yeah...they are effective, and they are going to be leaps and bounds ahead of chaff and flare for point missile defense. Offensive use would be limited to air to air, and anti-technology for the moment.
 
raZex said:
Now all we need a house...and a Giant Jiffy Pop to fill it with.
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Your plan will fail unless you can get a micro transmitter into the braces of a brown noser and make him believe hes talking to god.
 
Jasmine Bailey is definitely Mashable.

And to think how much fun a magnifying glass was on a sunny day. I can't wait until they figure out how to make a hand-held laser, so I can buy by one before some lunatic toasts a bunch of people and they become illegal. Though I guess the threat of imminent fire if you miss kinda makes them somewhat treacherous for home defense.
 
Crixus said:
Hey guys...as someone who works with Lasers from the low Mw to high W and Kw range I can tell you that no amount of "shiny" or ablative surface coating can deter the thermal transfer that a high powered chemical laser can focus over 1000th of an inch.

Basic laser operation will burn out its own optics and turning mirrors even on relatively low powered Mw solid state lasers. An incredibly high powered laser will overcome the reflectivity of "X" surface with heat pretty quickly.

So yeah...they are effective, and they are going to be leaps and bounds ahead of chaff and flare for point missile defense. Offensive use would be limited to air to air, and anti-technology for the moment.
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What would be the effective range of such weapons? I was going to suggest that a laser could in theory be used to permanently blind an enemy pilot, but then I remembered that most air to air confrontations take place a long distance away. Like, maybe a mile or more or something. Would a laser that could be mounted to a plane be useful at that range?
 
ballistic90 said:
What would be the effective range of such weapons? I was going to suggest that a laser could in theory be used to permanently blind an enemy pilot, but then I remembered that most air to air confrontations take place a long distance away. Like, maybe a mile or more or something. Would a laser that could be mounted to a plane be useful at that range?
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Problem with blinding weapons is that the US signed a treaty banning them in the 1980s... Which I suppose doesnt stop the goverment normally, but still...:p
 
Crixus said:
Hey guys...as someone who works with Lasers from the low Mw to high W and Kw range I can tell you that no amount of "shiny" or ablative surface coating can deter the thermal transfer that a high powered chemical laser can focus over 1000th of an inch.
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You still measure things using inches? :eek:

Haven't you heard of a perfect mirror?
 
DeathPrincess said:
Problem with blinding weapons is that the US signed a treaty banning them in the 1980s... Which I suppose doesnt stop the goverment normally, but still...:p
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Yeah, it's always sort of amused me that we could shoot that pilot in the head, or blow off both his legs, but it would be illegal to blind him.
 
So much for grounding that project, only to bring it back. I reckon we should stick the laser tech on an A-10 it's already an unstoppable killing machine.
 
Very cool stuff. Awesome era we're living in. Would be cool to see lasers outfitted on other military vehicles like the Apache, M1 Abrams, and battleships.
 
Outamyhead said:
So much for grounding that project, only to bring it back. I reckon we should stick the laser tech on an A-10 it's already an unstoppable killing machine.
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Well that's the beauty of lasers, if they are made powerful enough, and steered well enough, they will never need to be put on close air support aircraft since the enemy vehicles can be taken out from high altitude with maximum precision.
 
Outamyhead said:
So much for grounding that project, only to bring it back. I reckon we should stick the laser tech on an A-10 it's already an unstoppable killing machine.
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Yes, but a laser, depending on the speed of the technology that batteries and electrical power is generated, could potentially drastically cut down the weight of the lighter jets.
 
DeathPrincess said:
Maybe you should write to Mashable and ask them why they called their article that!
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Easy! because there is no more science writers! and it is way too easy to get hits on movie tie-in key words.
All they care about are hits, not content.
 
must enlist.....i want to pew pew some bad guys with lasers
 
rflcptr said:
Nothing is 100% reflective. ;)
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Perfect mirrors! (which are grey...)

ta_erog said:
Easy! because there is no more science writers! and it is way too easy to get hits on movie tie-in key words.
All they care about are hits, not content.
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But most people find it hard to get excited about stuff that doesn't relate to them. So a tie in to something they have experienced (like a movie or a game) means they have a common point of reference! The more people interested in tech the better! :D

Core2-D2 said:
i prefer a more elegant weapon, from a more civilized age.
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I want a plane with muskets!
 
DeathPrincess said:
I want a plane with muskets!
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They'd make terrible pilots though. Short arms, beady eyes, impossible to litterbox train, etc.

muskrat.jpg
 
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