Laser Gun Fired from US Navy Ship

[Doctor_K]

Welcome to the 21st century!  Sci-fi becomes Sci-real!

Courtesy of BBC News.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13033437

Laser gun fired from US navy ship

The US Navy has fired a laser gun from one of its ships for the first time.

Researchers used the high-energy laser (HEL) to disable a boat by setting fire to its engines off the coast of California.

Similar systems had previously been tested on land, however moist sea air presented an extra challenge as it reduces a beam's power.

The navy said that ship-borne lasers could eventually be used to protect vessels from small attack boats.

The US military has been experimenting with laser weapons since the 1970s.

Early systems used large, chemical-based lasers which tended to produce dangerous waste gases.

More recently, scientists have developed solid state lasers that combine large numbers of compact beam generators, similar to LEDs.


HELs fire

Until now, much of the development of HELs has focused on shooting down missiles or hitting land-based targets.

The latest round of tests showed its wider possibilities, according to Peter Morrison from the Office of Naval Research.

"This test provides an important data point as we move toward putting directed energy on warships.

"There is still much work to do to make sure it's done safely and efficiently," he said.

While a weaponised system would likely be restricted to military vessels, merchant shipping has also expressed an interest in laser technogy,

A gun which uses visible laser light to temporarily blind pirates was announced by BAE Systems in 2010.

The technology is still being tested, ahead of a commercial launch.

[Captain Zissou]

Not mentioned in the article; not only did the ship fire the laser and disable the boat, it did so at a distance of over 1 mile and in seas of 4 feet.  This was no easy task.  Wired.com has a video.  In the video, the engine ignites almost immediately.  Ships currently produce enough energy to fire the laser used in the test. However, the laser in the test was only 20% the size needed to shoot down a missile. In order to fire those lasers, energy supply systems on war ships would need to be upgraded.

The current type of lasers are solid state lasers.  The goal is to get those to 100 kilo-watts to shoot down incoming missiles.  The next step is free electron lasers.  The ultimate goal is a 1 mega-watt free electron laser.  That laser would be able to slice through 2,000 feet of steel per second.  We are not currently able to produce that kind of power on a scale small enough to mount on a ship.

[Timkin]

Thats some scary $#!t!   

[JeffreyS]

I saw the video on CNN earlier it is wild.

[Lunican]

http://www.youtube.com/v/awsQs4ct0c4?fs=1&hl=en_US

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

And?

This was an outboard motor with an exposed gas-line, a plastic cowl, several exposed mechanisms.  How is this practical for standard use?  Show me a laser taking out a 40' cruiser.  How about a Sailboat?  Can it focus on the flapping canvas?  What about any machine that's contained in something more durable than my adidas?

[Overstreet]

And?

This was an outboard motor with an exposed gas-line, a plastic cowl, several exposed mechanisms.  How is this practical for standard use?  Show me a laser taking out a 40' cruiser.  How about a Sailboat?  Can it focus on the flapping canvas?  What about any machine that's contained in something more durable than my adidas?

The thing amazing is the targeting and tracking. I've seen laser shots on drone aircraft, but staying on target was always the problem. Sails......probably not very many pirates using sail boats any more. But if you can track a target hit the base of the mast. It moves less.  Besides if the article above it true about a beam that can slice through steel that fast small boats don't have much chance. If you can target and track a moving target a mile away in seas and hit the outboard without spraying the passenger areas the feel good people will like it more. Personally something like a good hosing from a GAU 8 is just fine for pirates. 

[Ralph W]

I wonder about pinpoint targeting with a weapon that is lethal for the entire line of sight distance as opposed to just dropping a warhead on a specific target. The warhead goes boom at the point of impact while the laser could potentially slice thru anything between the point of origin, the intended target and whatever is on the far side.