LASER HUMMER IN IRAQ

http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/0,,DT_031705,00.html

The Army's first and only battlefield laser system is back.

In 2003, the Army sent ZEUS, a Humvee armed with a 10kw solid-state laser, to Afghanistan, to blast mines and other explosives left over from years of war. In the six months ZEUS spent there, the laser-hummer zapped over 200 pieces of unexploded ordnance, according to the Army, "at one point setting a record for ordnance disposal by negating 51 pieces in less than 100 minutes."

Now, ZEUS "is being forward deployed" again, Army Space and Missile Defense Command Lt. Gen. Larry Dodgen tells Defense Daily.

"According to spokesman at Headquarters, Department of the Army, ZEUS is in Iraq as part of a three-vehicle convoy protection concept being evaluated now," DD adds.

ZEUS uses a pair of lasers to sizzle its targets, according to Sparta, Inc., the vehicle's maker. A joystick-controlled green Nd:YAG laser is used to designate the target. One it's locked, an invisible high-power Nd:YAG laser swerves around, to heat the sucker up.




:puke:

much safer than someone dealing with them hands on i imagine.

I suspect this is intended to be used to explode the improvised explosive devices that have been taking out Hummers 'n' stuff. If we can drive this thing along out front and clear the IEDs, that means fewer of our troops blown up and apart, which I would think is generally a good thing...

n/t

In peacetime, this would be a really cool tool for Police EOD squads. The concept is certainly neat, again, I said the concept of using it to safely destroy explosives is really cool. Now, if it gets used for anything other than that, then it's pretty fucking sick.

they are lobbing every other weapon they have at them why stop with this one? I know in my gut it will be used for the wrong purpose.

:puke:

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They will soon be at your friendly neighborhood roadside checks

prepare to be fried in less than 60 seconds . . .

OF COURSE they'll use it on the Iraqis

No messy bullet holes to explain . . .

and silent . . .

(sigh)

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

very low. So I guess they will use whatever works.

http://optics.org/articles/ole/10/3/3/1

"...the vehicle can operate at a range of 25-300 m and takes between 5 s and 4 min (typically 30 s) to destroy a mine. The result is a clearance rate of up to 25 explosives per hour when equipped with a 0.5 kW laser."

The vehicle has since been upgraded to a laser with four times the power.

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and not so much from the soldier's point of view maybe, than of his superiors

But there IS the advantage of not having to expose oneself like one does firing a rifle.

Laser is silent, other than the generator running -

No evidence (spent casings, bullets) laying around

There would definitely be a psychological advantage to peoples fears of being fried, even IF it wasn't "instant"

I have mentioned before, as well as read about the idea elsewhere, that part of the "mission" in the Iraq Invasion was to test a lot of the Military "toys" on a defenseless victim. (apparently not as defenseless as the WH had wished tho).

I believe alot of the "shock and awe" bombing was more of a test run for their munitions and their GPS guidance systems than a realistic expectation that they would "get" Saddam with the first rounds so to speak.

Also part of the mission was just to GET these toys into the Middle East, where the BFEE has other targets in mind. Those pesky "insurgents" however are keeping them busy just staying alive.

Shortage of bullets has been raised, and is a valid concern - heck aren't they "outsourcing" the manufacture of bullets already? The laser is "renewable" and never runs out, well, as long as you don't run out of fuel.

And, with your reference to a microwave, which literally cooks from the inside out, don't think the BFEE is not designing, if they haven't already designed, a method to do just that . . .

If I can buy a microwave for 60 bucks . . . .

Yeah - they are workin' on it, or already perfected it for their purposes

That's My Canuk Opinion anyhoo . .

but not the idea of using it on humans.

More specifically, it's REALLY cool as a tool, very UNCOOL as a weapon. There, I think that's perfectly stated. :D

in all the countries where abandoned mines kill and maim tens of thousands.

Thats a real :puke:

http://www.zeus.sparta.com/history.html

At the bottom is a link to a detonation of an artillery round. It took 10 seconds to heat the thing enough to explode in this film.

any of that cool stuff).

that came into Iraq right after Rummy's
remark of you go to war with what you have.

Maybe this is it.

Can it take out cars traveling at 200kph?

Helicopter blown up, 15 Americans killed in complex
Resistance attack in Balad.

An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US military
column destroying one Humvee and killing four US troops in
the al-Ishaqi area of the Balad district, Mafkarat al-
Islam reported. After that attack, US forces called in
helicopters that landed at the scene of the attack to evacuate
the dead. Witnesses reported that a Resistance
martyrdom fighter driving an explosives-laden car raced
at speeds approaching 200km per hour into one of
the helicopters and blew up.

The powerful explosion totally destroyed the helicopter and
killed 11 more American troops who were evacuating the
bodies or were just gathered around the area. Thus the
total number of Americans killed in the complex attack was
15. Later, a captain in the puppet so-called “Iraqi national
guard” reported that the number of dead had risen to
16.

www.freearabvoice.org

can it cook a steak at 50 yards? "Flash BBQ" anyone?

As in all technology which can be weaponized, the applications are good and very very scary. May the Force be with you.

down with war

bring the troops home now

and begin to Demonstrate en masse, this little baby will make for great crowd control.

Funded by the ones who are demonstrating...only in Amerika!

Thats the "meanest" Humvee iv'e ever seen. Like US "Robots' we are all "Scared". We surrender! You American's have developed so many ways to "Kill" people, its incredible. It's so incredible ! We Surrender. OZ would like you American's to move in and take control as soon as possible. Our economy is nothing like yours!

The only way they could kill a guy with it would be to drug him, put him to sleep and then cook him., otherwise, the victim would just run off.

'pain delivery systems' due out in 2007.

...someone will use it to make everything better, and some will use it to make everything worse. Always with the self-centered fear and loathing, always with the specious reasoning. But aren't we slowly getting better? Fer instance, the magnificent Democratic Underground rising -- pulling up against the more dark-hearted misinformation Blogs. Which I have never personally seen. But have heard about. Ewww.

Bad things, good things coming. We grow. We need a "green gas", like the science-fiction novel about the stranded alien -- something that just makes you love everyone and everything around you. No personality wipe -- just the love. The human demon, restrained by the bars of love. Oh, yeah. Someone got the Chemistry out there?

it's called MDA. We called it 'the love drug'. Other variations are MDMA which is commonly called 'angel dust'.

I guess my mind is fried!

That is always my first question. I usually assume that there is a propaganda function, especially to new secret weapons type articles.

It seems to me that you would have to know that something is booby trapped, and know where exactly the detonator point is for this to be useful. Just routinely heating up the surface of everything you see wouldn't be practical. Mines buried under the earth wouldn't respond to this measure, for example.

I am inclined to think this is:

- a cover story for the weapon's real purpose.
- a feel good story to reassure American military personnel about counter-measures for IEDs.
- a propaganda piece to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of Iraqi resistance regarding the efficacy of the IEDs they are placing.

Take your pick.

Sgt. Mike "Yeah, early in the war there were problems with IEDs, but NOW, we've got a laser powered mine sweeper."