Boeing's advanced tactical laser (ATL) tested

Tefal · 9 Feb 2010 at 16:57

peetee said:
never got the whole idea of this, planes wobble and what not, its going to be fairly useless at range in the air.

not really, they've put artillery canons on plans and they're very accurate, as well as the fact the laser can be moved very quickly to correct for turbulence as well as traditional gyroscopes etc.

Same as the whole railgun on a destroyer in transformers 2.. what about the waves? meh.

Naval artillery is very very accurate.

Cookeh · 9 Feb 2010 at 17:06

peetee said:
i said RAILgun, not minigun, have you seen transformers 2? Its a tad different to a minigun.

And I believe you're thinking of gatling guns.
Our older type 42 destroyers have them, whereas our newer type 45 dont, though are fitted for them.

principal of uses and accuracy still apply tbh

peetee · 9 Feb 2010 at 17:10

Cookeh said:
principal of uses and accuracy still apply tbh

Thats like comparing a shotgun to a sniper rifle.

Gatling guns spray masses of ammo at missles until they are no more.

Tefal said:
Naval artillery is very very accurate.

Theres no denying that, but the size of a laser beam, and the size of a anti-ship missile, just has me a little dubious!

Tefal · 9 Feb 2010 at 17:56

peetee said:
Theres no denying that, but the size of a laser beam, and the size of a anti-ship missile, just has me a little dubious!

This laser is designed to hit tanks not missiles.

Glaucus · 9 Feb 2010 at 17:59

peetee said:
Theres no denying that, but the size of a laser beam, and the size of a anti-ship missile, just has me a little dubious!

Why, the targeting system will be no different to laser pointers for current smart weapons.

They are stupidly accurate as they constantly asses their-self and have loads of tech to overcome everything from movement to atmospheric conditions.

Squark · 9 Feb 2010 at 18:51

Tefal said:
This laser is designed to hit tanks not missiles.

Are you sure? I was lead to believe that the laser was an anti-missile system, basically superheating it until it explodes

No1newts · 9 Feb 2010 at 18:54

EVH said:
Did a search and couldn't find anything, but this thing looks epic

Meh

Was expecting the car to be lazered into half or to blow up in a massive ball of flame, not dirty the paint job.

"Stop or we will screw up your paint job!"
"Eek! I give in!"

Or not

Le_Petit_Lapin · 9 Feb 2010 at 19:01

Squark said:
Are you sure? I was lead to believe that the laser was an anti-missile system, basically superheating it until it explodes

The Beoing sized version is yes, its designed to take out ICBM's from 100's of miles away. ICBM's are quite big.

Sounds like a good excuse for me to link a vid of nukes being launched.

peetee · 9 Feb 2010 at 19:22

Israel wanted it for small rockets/missiles did it not?

Tefal · 9 Feb 2010 at 21:44

Squark said:
Are you sure? I was lead to believe that the laser was an anti-missile system, basically superheating it until it explodes

there's two one is in the nose of a 747 and designed to shoot down huge ballistic missiles during launch.

Then this one is mounted under a cargo plane and is to fill a role similar to the spectre gunship.

Tefal · 9 Feb 2010 at 21:46

peetee said:
Israel wanted it for small rockets/missiles did it not?

that was a 3rd system but as scrapped because it cost 3 grand for every shot, and a single terrorist with the correct launcher could overwhelm it.

Israel has produced a rocket based defence net now and is testing it atm.

Tefal · 9 Feb 2010 at 21:47

No1newts said:
Meh

Was expecting the car to be lazered into half or to blow up in a massive ball of flame, not dirty the paint job.

Or not

Now image if that beam was aimed at your flesh....

D D Danneh · 9 Feb 2010 at 22:03

peetee said:
Iv heard of gyroscopes but my understanding was the same as above, they compensate, they dont cancel out, over range surely this will reduce accuracy?
Correct me if im wrong, but that was just my impression on the whole thing.

They compensate for angular change, but not actual movement.

Cookeh · 9 Feb 2010 at 22:11

No1newts said:
Meh

Was expecting the car to be lazered into half or to blow up in a massive ball of flame, not dirty the paint job.

"Stop or we will screw up your paint job!"
"Eek! I give in!"

Or not

Would work effectively on the french then

Just point it at them and they'd surrender

Azza · 12 Feb 2010 at 14:33

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/12/boeing-747-destroys-ballistic-missile-with-laser/?s=t5

http://www.mda.mil/news/10news0002.html

Last night at 8:44pm Cali time, the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully "destroyed" a liquid-fueled ballistic missile from an airborne platform, according to the Missile Defense Agency. A first for the directed energy weapon that we've been following since 2006. The dirty work was achieve by a modified Boeing 747-400F airframe fitted with a Northrop Grumman higher-energy laser and Lockheed Martin beam and fire control system. After an at-sea launch, the ALTB used a low-energy laser to track the target. A second, low-energy laser was used to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbances before the megawatt-class laser was fired, "heating the boosting ballistic missile to critical structural failure." The entire episode was over just two minutes after missile launch.

jakeke · 12 Feb 2010 at 14:40

Strange, strange choice as a race that we choose to develop deadly laser weapons before sorting out the problems we currently have. We have our priorities so far out of tune

Dave M · 12 Feb 2010 at 14:52

jakeke said:
Strange, strange choice as a race that we choose to develop deadly laser weapons before sorting out the problems we currently have. We have our priorities so far out of tune

Lack of affordable personal laser weapons is one of my main problems - just because you don't want one you shouldn't be so selfish as to deny everyone else the chance.