US Navy laser weapon shoots down UAV at sea

Edited US Office of Naval Research video of the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), on the destroyer USS Dewey, shooting down a target drone representing a threat UAV off San Diego in August 2012. Developed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, the prototype LaWS is based on a high-power industrial fiber laser and is designed to defend ships against UAVs and fast-attack craft. An operational demonstration is planned for early 2014 in the Gulf of Arabia, on the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce.

[@douro20]

This is a development of the SSHEL flash-pumped Nd:YAG laser developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It generates 67kW pulsed power.

[@fatmikecj]

Actually this would be perfect for that. It uses radar so can constantly track a target and it's a laser beam, so there's no range or time effects like bullet drop etc. As soon as the trigger is pulled the beam arrives at it's destination. Much more accurate than cannon.

[@maxgoodwin2408]

First deployment of a real working laser weapon! This is new , like giving your bishops, in chess, sniper rifles

[@Fargobreath]

Impressive certainly. And yes, it could easily hit a turning aircraft. That's just a matter of aiming, which isn't too difficult. I see the UKUSA Community getting this technology in a couple years. Their level of cooperation is more impressive than anything.

[@PLATINUMSWORDS]

Would it be as effective if the plane was evading?

[@TheIdeanator]

Was that the primary buffer panel they just shot off?

[@raymondoe1997]

If we downsized it, it would be as powerful as other handheld lasers

[@curlythefool8783]

Right now it's a cannon. When do you think we'll be able to downsize it into a hand-held weapon system????

[@boltar2003]

I'm not convinced the technology is yet there to aim a beam accurately enough from a large cannon on a moving ship to within a couple of inches on a target that is also moving. A few mm out at the cannon end could be metres out at the target end. Also you could have friendly aircraft nearby or behind the enemy who don't want to get hit by a beam trying to reaquire its target.

[@s0meguy0001]

probably many years... it's the power generation. you could never design a battery/capacitor combo to generate enough for it to work. it's like electric cars now... their batteries take up so much space and weigh a ton... you'd have to come up with something that can store more energy than that and be small enough to fit in the magazine of a small weapon. i'm afraid we'll have to wait for the vulcans to show us how to do it.

[@FRANK1FM]

What ever you're smoking must really good stuff.

[@boltar2003]

Satellites travel in a smooth predictable orbit. And 17500 mph isn't very fast when watched from 140 miles away minimum, the cannon wouldn't have to turn particularly fast at all. As I said - lets see them do the same thing to a plane thats ducking and weeving all over the place. And just hitting the plane itself isn't enough - it has to hit roughly the same area on the plane constantly for there to be enough of a heating effect.

[@juliannardone4863]

At the 16 sec mark the camera zooms out and shows the ship sitting still you are wrong unfortunately

[@boltar2003]

Certainly impressive - but now lets see them try to shoot down an aircraft thats not flying in a perfectly straight smooth trajectory but is dodging and weaving all over the place.

[@xvoui]

its just an ad for " caterpillar"

[@tomwallis7595]

Really they expect us to believe that this is real

[@ColonelChamberlain]

wait he said that we shot down a drone when the ship was sitting still. then you just said we shot down a drone when the ship was sitting still but that he was incorrect.

[@MrPngthor]

now just waiting for the rail gun to b put in action by the navy

[@FRANK1FM]

Well,the speed of light of light travels at 186,00 per second.Twin engine fighter can go roughly 1400mph.First of all,no jet or missile can out maneuver the speed of light.Ever see military jets in the sky?Think of yourself having a laser pointer and aiming it at the jet.Do you think that jet could maneuver in such a manner that you would have a problem hitting it with a laser?In a few seconds that jet is gone.Before the jet or drone knew it was hit by a laser,they're already toast.

[@Zetinoo]

Daom that is crazy

[@rollington9024]

Don't look into the light. :)

[@FRANK1FM]

You're wasting your time asking that question.You should know better.

[@endfite]

looks legit

[@boltar2003]

Except it took noticably more than a few seconds to down that drone. Also radar is only accurate to a few feet so good luck getting the laser to focus on the same area consistently on a plane making avoidance manouvers. And thats assuming the pilot doesn't roll it anyway making that impossible to start with.
Sure, once they've built a laser powerful to take out a jet in less than a second then it won't be a problem, but with the laser in this video? Forget it.

[@superwout]

I love sarcasm tooooo ...

[@Axlyss]

Good news for america bad for its military. I heard to use it for 20mins is 1usd the avg bullet for a 556 round is a little over a dollar. Heard on colbert that it was useless in rain dust and sleet

[@TheTacticalcheez]

Kinda a wast of money

[@user-eo3tl9cd9k]

эффектно

[@gggboy77]

So fake!

[@justinb4510]

That's fake