Navy to develop "Laser Machine Gun"

Bob J said:
Two words..... Vulcan Phalanx....[smile]

Vulcan Phalanx

Does everything this is supposed to do without spending a huge amount in development....
Click to expand...

Phalanx isn't the miracle weapon you're led to believe...

Not that I think BAE will churn out a product that does a better job. NAVSEA is kind of outside of their comfort zone (tho maybe that's why they've teamed with Boeing).
 
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I understand.... My ship actually had Vulcan Phalanx for Opeval many moons ago so had a chance to see it perform up front and personal.... Shot down everything that was thrown (or towed) at it.... Main limitation was mag capacity so if in a multiple target environment it (at least in the configuration that I saw) had a limited engagement capability.... Hard to imagine that a directed energy weapon at sea level would be an improvement.... Just pointing out that it seems to have a low probability of success for the money that I'm suspecting is involved.... With everything else going on with .gov finances right now it does not seem (to me anyway) that this should be funded....

noddaduma said:
Phalanx isn't the miracle weapon you're led to believe...

Not that I think BAE will churn out a product that does a better job. NAVSEA is kind of outside of their comfort zone (tho maybe that's why they've teamed with Boeing).
Click to expand...
 
Such weapons are designed for future threats. Not what is there today. If you get a wave skimming stealth covered missile that is jinkikng all over the place....a Phalanx is not going to be guaranteed to hit it. The Kalman tracking filters do not react well to the high G jinks. Since the laser pointing is instantaneous...you can have a better survivial rate for those hard to hit targets that pop up at the last second.

If I was on board....I would want BOTH systems!
 
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Since it doesnt fire a traditional cartridge, we can all own lazer pointers, would we still need a green card to own one here in MA, or just an FID? [smile]
 
Old Spice beat them to it!

Skysoldier said:
My Old Spice deodorant stick was running out last week, so I bought another one.

It looked different, and had a small sticker on the front that said, "SAME STUFF! DIFFERENT LABEL."

So I looked at the back label and read this.....

CONTAINS ODOR -FIGHTING "ATOMIC ROBOTS"
THAT "SHOOT LASERS" AT YOUR "STENCH MONSTERS"
AND REPLACES THEM WITH FRESH, CLEAN, MASCULINE "SCENT ELVES."

Who writes this shit?[rofl][rofl][rofl]
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Actually, there is language in the Geneva convention that prohibits devices that cause blindness. I think laser weapons could fall into that category very easily.
 
Friday said:
Actually, there is language in the Geneva convention that prohibits devices that cause blindness. I think laser weapons could fall into that category very easily.
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Anti-carrier missiles aren't in the Geneva convention [smile]
 
IIRC the phalanx system can't stop supersonic anti- ship missiles, and has serious limitations in a target rich environment. so a line of sight high energy system would be an improvement. If it works that is. The Navy is moving fast to high energy laser systems for point defense.
Ahh after reading the article (duh) I see they aren't replacing it they are adding it to the gun. Guess they are worried about being swarmed by small Chinese gun boats...
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 
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beaker said:
IIRC the phalanx system can't stop supersonic anti- ship missiles, and has serious limitations in a target rich environment. so a line of sight high energy system would be an improvement. If it works that is. The Navy is moving fast to high energy laser systems for point defense.
Ahh after reading the article (duh) I see they aren't replacing it they are adding it to the gun. Guess they are worried about being swarmed by small Chinese gun boats...
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Or the new Chinese anti-carrier missile.
 
Meh - if it is a true "Laser machine gun" then I don't think I'll go for the $200 tax stamp. I'm still holidng out for my DL44 (actually thinking of getting a C96 as my first C&R because it was based off of the DL44, a long time ago)
 
Directed energy weapons, (DEWs) which include lasers, has been a heavily funded research area for some time. Heck, they even have their own trade show in DC for them. There's a chemical powered laser system that can track and eliminate 6 targets at a time. It's such a toxic mess no one want to use it.
 
Bob J said:
I understand.... My ship actually had Vulcan Phalanx for Opeval many moons ago so had a chance to see it perform up front and personal.... Shot down everything that was thrown (or towed) at it.... Main limitation was mag capacity so if in a multiple target environment it (at least in the configuration that I saw) had a limited engagement capability.... Hard to imagine that a directed energy weapon at sea level would be an improvement.... Just pointing out that it seems to have a low probability of success for the money that I'm suspecting is involved.... With everything else going on with .gov finances right now it does not seem (to me anyway) that this should be funded....
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the targets were significantly different than the threats USN now expects to face (and has tested against in the recent past). The problem isn't throwing lead... looks like this upgrade addresses the issue.
 
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A directed energy weapon would have a number of advantages over a Phalanx if it can be developed into a practical system.
 

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