Reply #23: Bullets are deadly enough and dirt cheap [View All]

Sure, you could hurt someone with this but there are much cheaper low-tech methods available. From what I've read about this system it can fire "2000 shots a day." I'm not sure where they get that figure - is it 24 hours divided by the charging time for each laser shot? What soldier would prefer to automatic weapons a laser that can only be fired every 30 seconds or so?

Really, as weapons systems go this is as benign as they come, and has such a unique capability in its announced role that it's scarcely worth wringing one's hands over its possible use directly on people. Especially given how little effect massive civilian casualties have on domestic politics, so long as those civilians are Iraqi or Afghan.

The focus must be on ending the insane misuse of the US military in the service of corporate criminals and neocon fantasies, regardless of the weapons employed.

I also question the lethality of this laser. It works by locally heating the casing of a munition. It would definitely cause serious burns which are obviously painful, but it wouldn't bore a hole right through somebody. I'd imagine the beam size is fairly small (the better to *locally* heat the casing)... it's not going to "cook" anybody whole like a microwave oven