Army Moves Ahead With Mobile Laser Cannon

This is the new weapon of the future, it's going to be mounted on a 35 plus ton truck and aimed at the enemy. The results will be tremendous, and diffrent than a bullet or bomb would do.

The service just handed Boeing a $36 million contract to "continue developing a truck-mounted, high-energy laser weapon system that will destroy rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds," according to a company statement.

Low power demonstrations are scheduled for 2010, with battlefield-strength laser tests to follow in 2013.




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[edit on 22-1-2010 by Mr_skepticc]

well i guess the next generation artillery rounds mortars and rockets will have a front sided mirror coating.


the article doesn't say what wavelength of light but i'll bet it's invisible.
this also has a huge deny-ability factor with it.
err,no WE didn't do it,their house just caught fire on it's own.
what,you haven't heard of spontaneous human combustion?

man,i hate when that happens.

reply to post by Mr_skepticc


The author of the article is sowing propaganda. This laser won't have the speed or the processing ability to take down mortar shells or rockets coming at it or it's detachment. Because for one it has to track the mortar in realtime once done the laser will have to be aimed at this moving target until it's destroyed. The problem is that if the enemy was just lobbying one mortar every minute or two then there is a possibility but with mortars coming at the target by the time the laser if possible has destroyed the first one it woul have to lock on to the other mortar or missile and that one may be to far under it's engagement envelope. We developed a multiple ton laser mounted vehicle to protect ground troops from mortars and missiles. We already have a device for that, it's called anti-artillery. Once it's known within a certain degree where the shots are coming from, then a fire coordinate is given and return fire is put onto the firing position. This is better because not like the laser its shots lob over things while the laser is eye of sight.

The bad guys or even good guys don't want to play dodge ball with incoming artillery once it knows where your located. They pick up if not destroyed and move as fast as they can. This laser won't be used as the article said (the author said it in the first paragraph (bullets, hint hint)) for anti-artillery. It's going to be used against troops and their fortifications. This laser will be a more powerful Microwave (invisible) laser which is a crowd control device that was on 60 minutes that uses Microwave radiation to move a crowd. But this one will be on steriods times ten. Burning them behind walls and/or forcing them out into the open. Just imagine that thing trying to destroy mortar rounds being lobbed at your position. It's more cost effective for the military to have their soldiers run or dig in rather than pay for an expensive piece of equipment that will not do the job.

Actually, they performed a successful test using a laser to shoot down multiple incoming mortars clear back in 2004. That's six years ago. Following Moore's Law tells us that the processing ability of the current tracking system should be eight times more powerful.

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