Dave Majumdar, War Is Boring: Everything the U.S. Navy Wants Its Laser Warships to Do
New details about next-gen ships
A new U.S. Navy large surface combatant might feature futuristic weapons that, until now, have been the province of science fiction.
According to a recent interview with a top naval official, the Navy envisions that its next-generation large surface combatant — or destroyer-cruise-size — ships might be armed with host of lasers, railguns and even particle beam weapons, in addition to regular missile tubes. The new design is intended as a replacement for both the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class and the Ticonderoga-class ships.
WNU Editor: They are still far away from implementing these concepts.
5 comments:
If they fire a laser weapon at a target that is reflective will the beam be deflected and in some cases returned?
Reflecting high power lasers is tricky:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=mx5RAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA205&lpg=PA205&dq=laser+reflectors+tricky&source=bl&ots=_2uJccp4Sm&sig=dLVj0JFjuWtWo6QoSQsXiKCUmQo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVrYuLl7DKAhUFx2MKHU7JBmsQ6AEIMjAH#v=onepage&q=laser%20reflectors%20tricky&f=false
Films can be burned through, so can coatings behind glass, and then the wavelength of the laser has different effects.
It's not like as in Si-Fi, (flash=boom), as the laser's wavelength produces different effects, short wavelengths heat a surface spot, long wavelength's penetrate more and create heat more like a microwave.
I'm wondering how they will be able to target anything over the horizon.
Anon,
That's a good point. By definition a LOS weapon.
Jay I was thinking more along the lines of highly polished stainless steel. Perhaps concave to focus and return the beam.
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