Hi yall
Okay, now that the Navy has revealed the USS Ponce will be the testbed so to speak for their new laser, I was wondering yalls thoughts on this. I havent seen much specific details on the system.
What are they using for the fire control system/targeting? IMO thats gonna be the main hurdle for lasers is targeting. Though Im sure if they can build stabilizing systems to allow a 120mm tank gun to fire accurately over rough ground at 55mph it shouldnt be too much of a problem to stabilize the laser at sea I would think. Correct me if Im wrong here. Will they be using any type of stabilization mechanism on the LaWS?
I also wanted to clear some things up. I remember reading on here someone saying they had a "physics background" and that the problem with lasers is they follow the inverse square law requiring huge amounts of power for long distances and also are susceptible to atmospheric dispersion. Although Im sure thats not the opinion of everyone here, its not entirely true. Im not trying to insult anyones intelligence but lasers dont really follow the inverse square law in the traditional sense. In laymens terms, compare how a conventional blast fragmentation explosive disperses its energy evenly in a growing sphere. This is an example of the traditional inverse square law. Another example is a lightbulb, or a flashlight. A flashlight is the best comparison in this case. A laser beam looks nothing like a flashlight`s beam. This is because while the flashlight shines EM(Electromagnetic) radiation of many different wavelengths/frequencies, a lasers light is only at one specific wavelength. The effective range of a laser will be determined by the diameter of the mirror/lens/aperture and the wavelength. The inverse square law allows for no such things. The smallest spot can be determined by S = 1.2 R L / D, where S is spot size, R is range, L is wavelength, D is diameter of aperture. Granted, outside of the focus, the laser does start to disperse, but I doubt lasers will really be used outside of the focus range anyway. It is quite possible to build a laser which has an effective range of over 1 light-second, with a high frequency and large aperture. Its just not cheap.
Anyway, I was also thinking a microwave frequency laser would also be quite useful in damaging electronics. Which direction do yall think military lasers will take in the future? I honestly think an airborne laser could be very successful, not a physically damaging laser but one which damages/interferes with the electronics of other aircraft/targets.
Thanks
Okay, now that the Navy has revealed the USS Ponce will be the testbed so to speak for their new laser, I was wondering yalls thoughts on this. I havent seen much specific details on the system.
What are they using for the fire control system/targeting? IMO thats gonna be the main hurdle for lasers is targeting. Though Im sure if they can build stabilizing systems to allow a 120mm tank gun to fire accurately over rough ground at 55mph it shouldnt be too much of a problem to stabilize the laser at sea I would think. Correct me if Im wrong here. Will they be using any type of stabilization mechanism on the LaWS?
I also wanted to clear some things up. I remember reading on here someone saying they had a "physics background" and that the problem with lasers is they follow the inverse square law requiring huge amounts of power for long distances and also are susceptible to atmospheric dispersion. Although Im sure thats not the opinion of everyone here, its not entirely true. Im not trying to insult anyones intelligence but lasers dont really follow the inverse square law in the traditional sense. In laymens terms, compare how a conventional blast fragmentation explosive disperses its energy evenly in a growing sphere. This is an example of the traditional inverse square law. Another example is a lightbulb, or a flashlight. A flashlight is the best comparison in this case. A laser beam looks nothing like a flashlight`s beam. This is because while the flashlight shines EM(Electromagnetic) radiation of many different wavelengths/frequencies, a lasers light is only at one specific wavelength. The effective range of a laser will be determined by the diameter of the mirror/lens/aperture and the wavelength. The inverse square law allows for no such things. The smallest spot can be determined by S = 1.2 R L / D, where S is spot size, R is range, L is wavelength, D is diameter of aperture. Granted, outside of the focus, the laser does start to disperse, but I doubt lasers will really be used outside of the focus range anyway. It is quite possible to build a laser which has an effective range of over 1 light-second, with a high frequency and large aperture. Its just not cheap.
Anyway, I was also thinking a microwave frequency laser would also be quite useful in damaging electronics. Which direction do yall think military lasers will take in the future? I honestly think an airborne laser could be very successful, not a physically damaging laser but one which damages/interferes with the electronics of other aircraft/targets.
Thanks