Test of laser from C-130H melts hood of car

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Well it's great to know that if we are ever invaded by an army of car and truck hoods we got it covered

good point... but I believe this demonstration is even worse....notice that a black square target was drawn with a very THICK black line, on the WHITE hood... I believe the black was essential to absorb instead of reflect enough of the infrared beam...to burn the paint black..

Here is a real life case where a shiny, reflective, aluminum tinfoil hat might just save your life!!!!!(note1)

I might even be willing to volunteer as a target... as long as I could prepare with a roll of ALCOA aluminum foil.. shiny side out!

Bring on yer 200 million dollar star wars toy!

Next thing we might see are cheap drones with intelligent mirror optics to reflect such beams back at the emitting target..

Note: you are supposed to be afraid, so afraid you dare not speak out. A bit of Tinfoil would also stop those beat frequency microwave pain guns...and those flat panel crowd control microwave arrays, . Applied to a 2 square yard paper panel, one might even reflect such emissions back at the fascists using them on you in pursuit of your silence. And I bet this 'fact of physics' is classified...


[edit on 7-10-2009 by seataka]

Originally posted by seataka

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Well it's great to know that if we are ever invaded by an army of car and truck hoods we got it covered

good point... but I believe this demonstration is even worse....notice that a black square target was drawn with a very THICK black line, on the WHITE hood... I believe the black was essential to absorb instead of reflect enough of the infrared beam...to burn the paint black..

Here is a real life case where a shiny, reflective, aluminum tinfoil hat might just save your life!!!!!(note1)

Being a laser freak I must agree, black burns best. Really makes me wonder how effective these systems are after seeing that video. Not to mention lasers being easily seen with the right equipment...
One issue with the reflector idea - at these power levels (hell even a 60w outdoor, green pulsed yag system) is that the slightest piece of dust will cause mirror failure or severe damage as it absorbs energy.

Microwaves however, great idea. I've been pondering the possibility of some sort of supersoaker applied alu foil/clay or bonding agent sprayed onto the panels.... as with lrad perhaps some jelly like substance could nullify it.

Re slightest bit of dust, - yup... correct, I'd only volunteer with a fresh roll of tinfoil...

And credit where credit is due, it is not easy to have adaptive optics fast enough to compensate for air induced beam spread...and the harmonic vibrations of a C-130...but the boeing skunkworks dudes did demonstrate that...

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In any duel between weapons systems with electronics, the one with the fastest rise time (delta V over delta T) will usually win.

[edit on 7-10-2009 by seataka]

I would like it if Russia/China/USA/Asia/Europe/Africa all got these laser weapons at the same time. That way, all war would be futile, as any time anyone launched a plane/missile or gets in an armored vehicle, someone else can just destroy it instantly.

It will be like the ultimate version of mutually assured destruction, and finally we might get some peace in the world.

All dreaming aside, what I really expect will happen is a couple of superpowers will have this, and use it to wage terror on the world as usual, stealing all resources, and other business as usual. Within a few more years, this will be mounted on cop cars, and all protesters or people speeding in their cars will be a melted puddle of gloop.

Oh, on the subject of reflectors/mirrors... I heard Michio Kaku talking about this once. He said while that can be an effective countermeasure to lasers in some ways, the lasers will be so powerful that such thick mirror would be needed it would become impractical.

The mirror will always absorb some of the energy, so would need to be so thick to deal with these lasers that it would not be workable to mount on missiles/tanks etc without reducing their range or increasing their weight to the point they are worthless.

He said that the USAs plan was to have three of these laser C-130s in the air at all times, and that would be enough to own the whole world in effect. They would have their own nuclear power stations onboard to power them, although I'm not sure how that fits in with the current talk of chemical lasers.

[edit on 7/10/2009 by harpsounds]

Originally posted by seataka
Re slightest bit of dust, - yup... correct, I'd only volunteer with a fresh roll of tinfoil...

And credit where credit is due, it is not easy to have adaptive optics fast enough to compensate for air induced beam spread...and the harmonic vibrations of a C-130...but the boeing skunkworks dudes did demonstrate that...

---------

In any duel between weapons systems with electronics, the one with the fastest rise time (delta V over delta T) will usually win.

[edit on 7-10-2009 by seataka]

Hehehe fresh roll of foil for the freshest CT win on the web

Agree re adaptive optics: The x/y scanner tech and adaptive focal length equuipment (sorta like beam brush effect) that the millitary has, makes our pro stuff look like playdough lol! The speeds required to do this are boggling not to mention atmospheric correction on the fly.

After another consideration: it might be possible that the beam did go through the bonnet and into the block briefly, hence the 'kill' status. Hard to call though. Often your primary surface burns too much to see the damage caused underneath (through the hole) when playing with grunty lasers

Originally posted by harpsounds
Oh, on the subject of reflectors/mirrors... I heard Michio Kaku talking about this once. He said while that can be an effective countermeasure to lasers in some ways, the lasers will be so powerful that such thick mirror would be needed it would become impractical.

The mirror will always absorb some of the energy, so would need to be so thick to deal with these lasers that it would not be workable to mount on missiles/tanks etc without reducing their range or increasing their weight to the point they are worthless.

You are on the right track. High power mirrors are nearly a square in dimensions (circular shaped however).. 2cm wide 2-3cm deep etc. Loosing battle really. Best weapon could be a humble water jet or screen system.... hehehe.

edit2: other issue with high power (class 4 and up) stuff is that specular reflections can blind very easily... e.g a truck next to you gets zapped, you look and presto ya eyes are fried.

[edit on 7/10/09 by GhostR1der]

a mirror also needs to be on the correct frequency - intelgurl mentioned this before - or its only there to add weight

This is one of the first, if not first shot with this laser, so of course they're going to load the test in favor of the laser. After a few more shots to verify that the laser isn't going to cause damage to the C-130 and possibly injure the crew, you'll see more realistic testing going on.

Impressive test.

I'm sure what's even more impressive must be the amount of energy used to emit that laser from a C-130 several thousand feet in the sky.

I wonder what effect a simple smoke grenade, a tire fire or even some minor cloud cover might have on this laser. Also I wonder, if this laser takes several seconds to puncture a simple and stationary car hood, how effective it would be against an ICBM with a hardened shell and countermeasures flying at several mach speeds?

Also, since this appears to be an IR laser, wouldn't the IR signature present an easy target for IR-seeking anti-air missiles?

This isn't the same laser that they want to use on ICBMs. That laser will be built into a 747 and be more powerful. This one is meant for air support roles against ground targets. In its current form, I don't see it being effective against a tank. I hope they plan on increasing the power output though. It took forever to leave a scorch mark on a truck hood, so they need more power if they want to be able to hit armored vehicles. I'd hate to be shot in the face with it, though...

As for IR seeking missiles, it's possible that the laser could be used to blind them. There's already been success at testing lasers for that use.

Also, since this appears to be an IR laser, wouldn't the IR signature present an easy target for IR-seeking anti-air missiles?

I think lasers can be detected, however I doubt it would lase for long enough to be viable to shoot down, and I also doubt the aircraft would be in range from any shoulder launched air to air missiles. I would expect the main issue to be the lasers exhaust gases (if there is any, the ABL does).

[edit on 9/10/2009 by C0bzz]

Erm... it burnt the paint, not melt steel.


Would it be able to burn through wiring looms?

If not, its not close to ready yet.

A group of us have had visions of our military fighting itself. In one particular vision I also witnessed a helicopter battle of which used energy based weapons that could target and destroy other helicopters very rapidly, perhaps critically damaging three other helicopters in 5 seconds or less.

There was one downed helicopter that stood out. It had a color of UN white and had main rotors in both front and back like a troop carrying type. From what I witnessed these battles do not last long as they are very effective at downing each other.

Rich

Heh i could have some good fun with that

This video doesn't tell us much. A peek under the hood would be infinitely more revealing.

If the beam was really small, the damage might be much greater than it appears at first blush.

What impresses me with this case isn't the power of the laser, but the accuracy of it. For it to be fired from a moving aircraft and to hit within that target is very impressive. Depending on how well it would work on a moving target (which I'd hazard to guess it could since it already has to compensate for the movement of the platform), this could very easily by used as an anti-infantry weapon. If it's scorching the hood of a car like that in it's current incarnation it may not kill the poor guy that gets targeted, but it could certainly take somebody out of commission.

Given the IR sensors that are already used on AC-130's I could see this being an excellent ground support weapon capable of locating and zapping opposing snipers. Even if a target were to take cover the scorching effect would easily stand out enough for guys on the ground to locate the target and lay some of their own heavier ordinance on the target.

I really can't wait to see what happens with further development on the project. It's only going to get smaller, more efficient, more accurate, and more powerful. Who knows, someday we may even have a laser that can compete with the Avenger cannon. Now wouldn't that be awesome, A-10's with laser cannons.