aeroengineer

Out in New Mexico at HELSTF a few years ago a C130 mounted laser burned a hole in the hood of an old truck in the desert. Certainly proved the concept. The way I saw it in the video it could have taken out Bin laden crossing an urban street while in a circle of schoolchildren and not hurt anyone but him. The ultimate "laser surgical strike".

JamesNoBrakes

Or given him real bad sunburn.

aeroengineer

Well I say him laid out on said street would also make a great PSA for "wear your sunscreen". SPF 10000 minimum

aeroengineer

https://taskandpurpose.com/military-...llion-fielding

firefighterplt

Where are the sharks, though?

Color me disappointed.

aeroengineer

Naval version still in development.

rickair7777

It's gonna be big in the Navy... lots of power generation capacity on a warship, and new-construction ships are getting even more. It's slightly conceivable that we could see the return of nuclear cruisers... DE weapons with a bottomless magazine.

tnkrdrvr

Agreed. The Navy has already deployed early versions overseas on an experimental basis. All that power a modern warship can generate will make lasers and rail guns very attractive as replacements for both naval cannons and potentially SM-3, 6s.

rickair7777

I think it will be in addition to the SMs (and a long range ASCM of some sort), DE simply doesn't have the range or OTH capability of missiles. DE can have good range range for high elevation targets, not so much for near-horizon targets where the air is thicker, dynamic, and full of moisture, dust, etc.

Rail guns could replace conventional guns. I think you still need a high-volume projectile for targets ashore (hardened or defilade).

Also while weapons usually have the advantage over armor in arms races, DE vs. warships is an exception... a little bit of heavy armor would go a long way since it's more about heat dissipation. And against DE you'd only need to armor the relatively perpendicular surfaces. DE can't do plunging fire or hit below the waterline. BB's were well armored against the relatively flat trajectory of naval guns, what did them in was bombs from above and torpedoes from below since they couldn't carry the weight to heavily armor the entire ship. But BB style armor would work fine against DE.

DE can probably be used against shipboard sensors.

aeroengineer

I think defense against air threats will be its strong suit. What I would like to see is how this works against the hypersonic weapons threat. And for the last ditch defense how it would compare to something like the Phalanx