This $10M U.S. Army Laser Melts Drones With $3 Beams | WSJ Equipped
In Ukraine and the Red Sea, low-tech drones are changing the way wars are fought. The U.S. and other countries are investing in a new and inexpensive way to retaliate: lasers. Compared with traditional weapons, lasers present some key challenges: they have a shorter range, limited power and can be harder to fix when issues arise.
WSJ explains how the BlueHalo LOCUST laser weapon system works and why the tech is so difficult to perfect.
Chapters:
0:00 Laser weapon systems
1:03 The LOCUST
2:57 Targets
3:40 Weaknesses
4:56 Future challenges and deployment
Equipped
Equipped examines military innovation and tactics emerging around the world, breaking down the tech behind the weaponry and its potential impact.
#Military #Laser #WSJ
33 comments
Deadly Hezbollah strike shows growing threat posed by drones: https://on.wsj.com/404N29T
$3 beams I call BS it takes a lot of concentrated energy to create a beam with enough energy to burn down a drone.
And if someone puts a mirror under the drone?
You need a mirror reflect its own lazer energy to destroy it.
Amazing tech
All you did in the story was listed what you consider its shortcoming. This isn't a weapon to protect a nation. It's to protect the immediate area around it. Don't compare it to strategic missiles. This would be GOLD in Ukraine. But it's new technology. Good grief.
Prove that any current laser defense can take down a 30cm (tip-to-tip) mini class-leading racing drone travelling at 350kph before it hits its autonomously-tracked target. Such a UAV carries substantial KE against soft targets, even without a next-gen EM payload.
Britain did it first
Not gonna work. There are several account from military personel who tried this thing. Light defracts and bend you cant aim with this. Even slight wind can miss your aim. Clouds and dust also miss your aim. Its unreliable
Good news!In china you can purchase this from a toy factory
Man, when did WSJ become a bunch of whiny little B's. For God's sake. I guess the take away according to the WSJ is, "Don't even bother trying laser weapons because they are hard." Worthless reporting WSJ. Do better.
Check out ACS (Allen Control System)
‘How to save Israel from doom’
Seems they are over thinking the problem. With AI rapidly advancing, why wouldn't we just develop "hunter drones". They would deploy, seek and destroy based on the frequency drones operate at. Intercept a drone with a drone.
We're probably seeing this now because the US military has a slightly better classified version by now.
blue halo hit piece? lol
This game controller based Laser game sounds like its going to implode worse than oceangate…
bro at least use mouse
I note that the testing is done in a clear desert sky. What frequencies of light are used? Are they blocked or diffused by rain? Snow? Clouds? Air inversions? If the adversary merely mirrors the surface of the drone, will it deflect the laser beam? So many questions about how this unit works outside of a controlled environment.
the company is there to prevent the actual military from servicing parts. support right to repair and make this nonexistant
When I was a kid I used to fantasize about using a laser gun in war.
"Jonathon Moneymaker" 👀
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Its not 3 dollars and it will never be 3 dollars. Yes electricity is cheap but such lasers always break down and repairs cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A dirty lens here, a burned diode there. A never ending maintenance battle and moreso for these fancier "fiber" lasers.
What other lazers do they have and what else can they fry? 🧠
it's better to fund this technology.
-Fog and dust has entered the chat
Lasers need long dwell times, a ton of precision, a lot of maintenance, and are ineffective with any bit of atmospheric interference
They need one that shoots gamma rays
Nice AD watched the whole thing
Johnny 5 is alive!
Expensive tech weapon easily defeated by the very thing it supposedly destroys. Makes a few people loads of cash, while the rest of us pay taxes… Welcome to the America that never should have been.
Mr. Moneymaker. What a fitting name for a CEO of a multimillion dollar Military Industrial Complex company lol
$10 million for a $100 aliexpress laser