UUkraine

This $10M U.S. Army Laser Melts Drones With $3 Beams | WSJ Equipped

  • October 15, 2024



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

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  9. 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

  11. 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.

  14. 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.

  19. 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.

  24. 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.

  27. -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

  31. 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.

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