Directed-Energy Weapons are real. They date back at least to 2012.

Yup they not only exist, but the Turkish armed forces had a unit staged in Libya last September which scored the first combat kill using a tactical laser to shoot down a UAE operated Chinese ucav in real battle.

I believe the recent shipment of air defense systems Turkey shipped to Tripoli may very well have more of these systems included. They replace the mounted machine gun on your typical light-medium armored trucks.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

How long does the beam need to be sustained on target to do significant damage?

Obviously it would be dependant on the power of the beam, but i don't see directed-energy weapons replacing the mounted machine gun on military vehicles any time soon.

Just would not be cost-effective nor create the same kind of damage that conventional ammunition produces, well on the ground anyways, air and naval theatres of war being the exception.

a reply to: andy06shake

You'll see a lor of vehicle mounted lasers in the next 10 years.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I imagine we will given their naval proliferation, but i don't see them making conventional ammunition nor machine guns obsolete where ground or urban warfare is concerned just down to the nature of the battlefield.

a reply to: andy06shake

They're not going to replace anything. But there are going to be far more then people think.

a reply to: Zaphod58

You have piped my interest now, and you know your stuff Zaphod58, so how are they going to be far more than people think?

You don't need to give to much away.

a reply to: andy06shake

You're going to see multiple antiair lasers with armored units, and at least one with regular infantry. Those will be vehicle mounted. You'll also see at least a few short range lasers with infantry units. They're finally recognizing UAVs as a fairly serious threat and working to counter them.

a reply to: andy06shake
They are not being designed with siege operations in mind. The ones made in Turkey by savtag are deployed as aerial denial systems. And the only energy spent is whatever Diesel fuel is soe t during the shooting.

Earlier this month,(September/2019) an armed UAE drone, made in China as the Wing Loong II, was doing reconnaissance over the Misurata area for Haftar and looking for targets for its anti-tank missile. Suddenly, it plummeted and crashed into the desert, and the photo soon flew around the world.

The Turkish laser that shot down the UAV in mid-flight, according to Timokhin, is mounted on an off-road armored car and equipped with a Turkish-made opto-electronic guidance system.

“The system allows you to accurately inspect the target for firing, to select a vulnerable point, and then hold the laser marker on this point until the target is completely destroyed,” said Timokhin.

This is no longer an experimental technology, he added, but a fully functional combat vehicle armed with a laser gun, tested in battle against advanced military technology, not against a commercial drone bought on eBay. 

“Such a gun could well bring down an unarmored helicopter, and easily. And Turkey can build such weapons in large quantities without any problems,” said Timokhin.

Turkey has long sought to achieve military superiority in the region and seriously invested in innovative weapon systems. Working with state research institute Tubitak, the Turkish company Savtag developed experimental lasers, from 1.25 kW up to 50 kW, and by 2015 they had begun successfully hitting targets, according to Timokhin.

That year alone, Turkey spent $450 million on the program. “For a country that has access to all Western technologies and already saves a lot of money on R&D, this was a very impressive amount,” said Timokhin.

Aselsan Holding, Turkey’s top defense contractor, soon took over the laser weapons program, and by July 2018 announced it had successfully tested a combat laser capable of destroying unmanned drones from 500 meters and explosive devices from 200 meters.

Even conscripts could use these new weapons, and the cost of firing the laser gun is equal to the price of diesel fuel spent during the shooting, Timokhin added. This news is unlikely to have a big impact until Turkey uses the weapon on a bigger stage. But that doesn’t mean it is insignificant.

“This is all the more surprising because both Russia and the United States are superior to the Turks in laser technology,” said Timokhin, adding that both do have laser weaponry in operation.

“But ground-based combat vehicles with tactical-level lasers are not being built and used in Russia or the United States. This is done by the Turks,” he added. “In the future laser arms race, the Turks have already claimed a prize for themselves.”

Just one video on the topic of Ottoman laser defense.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ta.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Quite smart, blew the wee thing out the sky sharpish.