Marines are currently evaluating a Compact Laser Weapons System (CLaWS) as "the first ground-based laser approved by the Department of Defense for use by warfighters on the ground," Marine Corps Systems Command announced on Wednesday.
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| Science & Technology |
| The Marines Have a Laser Now |
| 2019-06-24 |
| Brace yourselves: Marine grunts now have their hands on a drone-killing laser cannon. Marines are currently evaluating a Compact Laser Weapons System (CLaWS) as "the first ground-based laser approved by the Department of Defense for use by warfighters on the ground," Marine Corps Systems Command announced on Wednesday. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #5 I don't really understand how targeting a moving object would work with something like in the image. Kalman Filtering |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2019-06-24 08:58 |
| #4 What if the target has a giant mirror? |
| Posted by: jpal 2019-06-24 07:49 |
| #3 Yawn! I'm still waiting for the plasma rifle in the 25 kilowatt range. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2019-06-24 06:06 |
| #2 I think the military has laser weapons which generate little waste heat. Key is the strength. Your typical laser pointer used in power point talks has less than 1% of a Watt. To cut through a steel shell of, say 1/4 inch it takes, say 400 W depending on the tightness of the beam. That doesn't seem impossible in a hand held weapon. I don't really understand how targeting a moving object would work with something like in the image. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2019-06-24 01:52 |
| #1 *Yawn* That's nice... Have they solved the two big problems yet? (1) Keeping the waste heat generated from melting the laser quickly into slag? and (2) Generating enough portable power to actually damage something( a long power cable to a hydroelectric dam doesn't qualify)? Still it's closer to the 21st Century I have been waiting for... |
| Posted by: magpie 2019-06-24 01:19 |