The Army Has Officially Deployed Laser Weapons Overseas to Combat Enemy Drones
The Army Has Officially Deployed Laser Weapons Overseas to Combat Enemy Drones
A pair of laser weapons has been deployed by the Army to an undisclosed location overseas to blast incoming enemy drones out of the sky.
With headlines like this one, it would be helpful to add the country the army is from, for example in parentheses.
"While the service declined to specify where the P-HEL systems were deployed, citing operational security, the Defense Department's top spokesman had previously suggested that directed-energy weapons were part of the defensive arsenal of U.S. military forces in the Middle East currently subject to the ongoing drone and missile attacks since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October."
But really Gaza or Ukraine 🤷🏼♂️
I meant something like
[US] The Army Has Officially Deployed Laser Weapons Overseas to Combat Enemy Drones
For anti-drone missions it could also be the red sea. The UK has some naval lasers.
I expect these to work with great efficiency for a few months until someone realises they can just slap mirrors onto their drones.
High energy weapons can destroy mirrors.
Even if the mirrors are capable of reflecting the laser light, they likely unable to reflect two different wavelengths. So two high energy lasers would negate the mirrors effect.
Most of the mirrors able to reflect this are likely to cost more than the drones they would protect.
The best and cheapest strategy would be to fly the drones close to the ground. The closer they are the harder it will be for radar to detect, and lasers to target as there will be more obstacles in the path of the sensors/weapon.
Any sustained major conflict these high energy weapons make a significant impact will likely see drones quickly flying low on the ground. This will make it harder for automated systems to shot, but easier for soldiers with rifles.
Will they burn though aluminum foil?
yes, but they will blind anyone looking at it during the process
Yes easily. This is neither the first fielding of laser systems nor an impressive one. There are 50kW systems that burn through incoming artillery shells, drone rated lasers are 15 kW for all chassis.
It's not a secret either, you can literally look up Raytheon's brochure.