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dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts) Sat Mar 30, 2013, 02:41 PM Mar 2013

The US Navy Wants To Use Lasers To Shoot Down Drones. Be Careful About War Crimes Here

Interesting argument....

Given that drones are becoming ever more capable and also ever cheaper, someone, somewhere, has to start thinking about effective counter measures to them. For yes, for the moment, the US military has a huge lead over everyone else in the design, manufacture and deployment of drones. But that’s not going to stop other people designing, manufacturing and deploying them over time.

The specific method the Navy wants to use is to blast them with a laser.

and

However, there’s entirely another problem with this technology. And that’s that if you use it on a human this could be considered to be a war crime:

and

Which poses something of a problem for the intended weapons system using lasers.
It means that you have two major problems.
The first being, before you fire the laser, you’ve got to make sure that it is indeed a drone and not a manned aircraft. That should be possible I would have thought.
However, this then leads to another problem.

If it is a manned aircraft then you need to use some other weapons system to bring it down.
And if you’ve got one of those available then why would you bother to develop a different system that can only be used on drones?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/03/29/the-us-navy-wants-to-use-lasers-to-shoot-down-drones-be-careful-about-war-crimes-here/

8 replies

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Highlight:

The US Navy Wants To Use Lasers To Shoot Down Drones. Be Careful About War Crimes Here (Original Post) dixiegrrrrl Mar 2013 OP

Yes, because being shot down with a laser MineralMan Mar 2013 #1

I'm a bit perplexed by the differences.... octothorpe Mar 2013 #5

The Navy need them for the Mach 5 Anti-Ship missiles. TheBlackAdder Mar 2013 #2

Guess the Death Star is next.... dixiegrrrrl Mar 2013 #3

There's a serious problem with space deployed weapons bananas Mar 2013 #6

Which is why lasers get all the press... Robb Mar 2013 #4

...and figuring it all out will make a few people a lot of money WilliamPitt Mar 2013 #7

Sigh......... dixiegrrrrl Mar 2013 #8

MineralMan

(146,317 posts)

1. Yes, because being shot down with a laser

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 02:44 PM

Mar 2013

is so much worse than being shot down with a missile. Sounds like a toss-up to me. A guy's gonna be dead either way.

octothorpe

(962 posts)

5. I'm a bit perplexed by the differences....

Reply to MineralMan (Reply #1)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 05:44 PM

Mar 2013

Dead is dead.

TheBlackAdder

(28,203 posts)

2. The Navy need them for the Mach 5 Anti-Ship missiles.

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 03:03 PM

Mar 2013

The Army, the Air Force and the Navy all have laser weapons deployed in the field, in 'test' mode.

These lasters are good for a range of about 1 mile and produce an Ionizing laser beam hot enough to fry the atmosphere and become visible in broad daylight. Normally, a regular laser beam is invisible to the eye. You only see them when they contact dirt, dust, smog or water vapor in the air. These beams are so high intensity that they ionize everything in its path.

In less than a decade, they will be able to shoot down satellites and ICBMs from the ground or a plane.

Space deployed ones are not far behind as the smaller units can fit in a car.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)

3. Guess the Death Star is next....

Reply to TheBlackAdder (Reply #2)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 03:36 PM

Mar 2013

bananas

(27,509 posts)

6. There's a serious problem with space deployed weapons

Reply to TheBlackAdder (Reply #2)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 10:07 PM

Mar 2013

because the defense against them is anti-satellite weapons,
and you wind up with the Kessler Syndrome,
one of possible explanations for the Fermi Paradox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox