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Home Front: WoT
US Army tests drone-killing laser weapon
2017-04-21
[RT] Amid concerns about Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
’s use of weaponized hobbyist drones, the US military is testing a laser weapon designed to take out the aerial menace, and small enough to be mounted on a Stryker armored vehicle.

The Mobile High Energy Laser (MEHEL) fires a 5-kilowatt beam that can either scramble the drone’s circuits and sever its communications with ground control ‐ a "soft kill" ‐ or destroy it outright in a "hard kill," according to the military publication Stars and Stripes.

Vehicles equipped with the MEHEL took part in the 10-day Maneuver Fires Integration Experiment exercises at Fort Sill, Oklahoma last week. A total of 50 drones were shot down, some just a few seconds after being engaged, Army spokeswoman Monica Gutherie said.
Posted by:Fred

#11  Here is the video of test runs

I think they finally have something useable - given no fog or smoke. Will see.
Posted by: newc   2017-04-21 17:55  

#10  Bald eagles. With frickin' lasers.

Parrots with lasers - they can insult the drone operators while killing the drones.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-04-21 16:56  

#9  I second Pappy's idea
Posted by: DarthVader   2017-04-21 16:19  

#8  Bald eagles. With frickin' lasers.
Posted by: Pappy   2017-04-21 16:04  

#7  You could try a bold eagle :)

Cheers! I just had a glass of wine to prove I'm nor a robot!!!
Posted by: Craick Ebberetle7364   2017-04-21 14:59  

#6  Building a laser powerful enough to kill drones, even military ones, wouldn't be that expensive and they already have tech that could bring an operational version online quickly.

The real trick is detecting drones. Even the big ones we have possess a small radar signature. Tiny ones are pretty much impossible to find unless they are close.
Posted by: DarthVader   2017-04-21 14:58  

#5  Shotgun doesn't have the range, a 5Kw laser OTOH can shoot down drones from a mile or two away.

It's designed to be used against 'hobbyist drones', not military grade drones.
Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance   2017-04-21 10:52  

#4  Yeah, but the law doesn't allow it because all that shot may come back down and kill half the town. So they have to come up with some hideously complicated way of involving the authorities to bring them down that guarantees it won't because the drone has time to disappear after you catch it trying to peep into your bedroom window.
Posted by: gorb   2017-04-21 10:04  

#3  The US military is testing a laser weapon designed to take out the aerial menace (weaponized hobbyist drones). A shotgun is effective and probably cheaper.
Posted by: JohnQC   2017-04-21 07:58  

#2  Drone Wars
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-04-21 04:41  

#1  Still waiting for the anti-drone drones.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-04-21 02:12  

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