US Army's Tactical High Energy Laser Shoots Down Mortar Rounds

"The Tactical High Energy Laser, built by Northrop Grumman for the US Army, shot down multiple mortar rounds Aug. 24, proving that laser weapons could be applied on the battlefield to protect against common threats"

www.spacedaily.com...

Now this is quite interesting.

wow!! they made it sound so good, it almost sounds like a hoax...............and if this is what they are showing us now..........

nice

it doesn't just shoot down mortars

As the nation's only laser weapon, the THEL testbed has shot down a variety of threats since 2000, showing its versatility by destroying about three dozen targets, ranging from Katyusha rockets to artillery shells and large-caliber rockets, and now mortar threats as well.

So that's rockets, large-caliber rockets, artillery shells and mortars

Nice to see that the armed forces research defensive as well as offensive weapon systems

Thats the fun thing with a lazer, if its powerfull enough to burn trough one Iron/Steel/Titanium/whatever metal object, chances are good that it'll be able to do the same with other equipment with that kind of hull.

Only thing you then need to work on is a guidance system to be able to track and fire at high speed objects.

What I am questioning though is the lifespan of lazer weapons.

What if someone other then me comes up with the bright idea of covering rockets and stuff like that with mirrors or other means to reflect laser light?

Originally posted by thematrix
What if someone other then me comes up with the bright idea of covering rockets and stuff like that with mirrors or other means to reflect laser light?

Cat's eyes and prisms can reflect light back to it's source

A laser of this power would just melt through any mirror after a second or two. I think...

Originally posted by thematrix


What I am questioning though is the lifespan of lazer weapons.

What if someone other then me comes up with the bright idea of covering rockets and stuff like that with mirrors or other means to reflect laser light?

This was discussed already before and it don't works, because the laser could change its frequency. Various materials used for mirrors have the not ability to reflect laser beams by all frequencies. For example normal mirror could reflect normal light, but will have problem with IR light. Except that it is hard to achieve perfectly clean mirror surface when the object is flying fast through the atmosphere.

Originally posted by Kozzy
A laser of this power would just melt through any mirror after a second or two. I think...

Yes the mirror needs to be water cooled at least, otherwise it would be simply overheated soon.

Any dirt, smudge or defect on the reflective surface would render it almost useless when it comes to the amount of energy focused on the target.

Let me take a second to put a link to what is, in my opinion, one of the best threads on ATS. Some of the newer members might not have seen it, and it covers THEL as well as a host of other DE topics.
Directed Energy Weapons, An ATS Analysis & Discussion

in order to realy defect laser with mirrors is to apply the same kind of mirrors used in say the huble space telescope with that kind of quality,thing is arnt mirrors flat what kind of areodynamics would be invovled with a mirrored rocket plus the shape of it and if so wouldnt that be a 2 in 1 affect ie stealth as well as deflecting laser shots ie the angles that these mirrors are placed sum what of a stealth fighter and its low profile radar signature

or am i just talking bull id like any opinions on this

Obviously your regular aluminum-backed mirror isn't going to be to useful against these laser but what about "hot mirrors". These mirrors are designed commercially to reflect away a portion of the infared spectum. Or what about a thin skin of gold protected by a covering material and backed with a heat asorbing material.

Originally posted by thematrix

What if someone other then me comes up with the bright idea of covering rockets and stuff like that with mirrors or other means to reflect laser light?

People have already been trying to do stuff to counter lasers. One way is by spinning a missile in mid flight as the laser has to be focused in the same spot for a little bit to work the best. Reflective coatings have also been considered.

The people that are making these laser know of these possible weakness and are design them so they wont matter. These are really smart guys and girls and they always think of ways a weapon could be countered when then design it.

[edit on 29-8-2004 by ShadowXIX]

Um...the enemy is lobbing mortar bombs at you.How long to get a fix on any of them?

One step away from Darth Bush's "DEATH STAR"...



(Emperors theme music from Starwars)
Dum Dum De Dum
Dum De Dum
Dum De Dum.....

About time we started hearing more about THEL.... Just remember, they're always about 30 years ahead of anything they show us, hehe.....

Originally posted by Kozzy
A laser of this power would just melt through any mirror after a second or two. I think...

Probably but if the laser gets a lot of the light refected back then the emitter is going to get screwed in the process.

Originally posted by Cjwinnit


Probably but if the laser gets a lot of the light refected back then the emitter is going to get screwed in the process.

I think it si impossible to reflect the light exactly to the emitter mileas away especially when light is reflected by curved misile surface.

ATS thread about a different 'wonder weapon' by DoD. This laser thing might be different but the military has a history of fudging results.

What if, instead of thinking the laser as a "beam" think more of a bell shaped Laser "wave" that is emitted in a 180 degree radial pattern from the source. Kind of like a "energy shield" that gets projected out from the source at the speed of light making an expanding "laser dome" of energy that intercepts incoming objects and essentially incinerates them when they come into contact with the "energy dome" mind you the laser energy would also be converting the ambient air into highly charged Ionic Air particles that I am sure would be quite effective at countering electronic guidance/arming/detonating systems essentially making the round "inert".

The total effect I believe is a hunk of smoldering inert mass of material once the object had passed through the "laser dome".

Just my thoughts, but you need to think outside of the box when talking about the functionality of a military laser weapon system.

And the degree of coverage is obviously not 180 degree complete radials as you would destroy other friendly units that would be near by but may have somthing like a 125 degree base degree in a 360 degree radius that translates to 100 ft radius dome at like 15 feet up from the source unit.