Massive Fuck Off Laser on a Ponce!!!!

[Dazey]

Fuckin' brilliant!!!!

US navy shows off ship-based laser weapon in Persian Gulf!

The 30-kilowatt laser is capable of destroying targets on speeding boats or even aircraft with pin-point accuracy, officials have said.

The US navy has demonstrated a ship-mounted laser weapon system in the Persian Gulf, off the coast of Iran, capable of destroying targets on speeding boats or even aircraft with pin-point accuracy, it told reporters on Wednesday.

The laser weapon is 30 kilowatts in power, which makes it 30m times more powerful than a hand-held laser pointer. It can be run at lower power, to dazzle which disrupts or damages sensors and instruments or at full power to destroy targets.

In a video of the demonstration, the device is shown targeting a mounted missile on a speeding boat, and then first dazzling, then destroying, an unmanned aerial drone in mid-flight.

The navy was keen to point out that this was not just a scientific test the laser device is fully operational. Were not testing any more its working, Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, the chief of naval research, said in a press conference at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

The prototype device is mounted on the USS Ponce, an Austin-class amphibious transport vessel. Because the Ponce is 43 years old one of the oldest vessels in the US navy the laser weapon was installed with its own power generator, though Klunder said that newer vessels would be able to use their own power grid.

According to a release from the navy, sailors working with the laser which is officially designated Laser Weapon System, or LaWS say that it has performed flawlessly, including in adverse weather conditions and that it has exceeded expectations for reliability.

The laser has not yet been fired in anger, but Klunder said that it is fully battle-ready if it is needed. If we have to defend that ship today, we will [use the laser] to destroy a threat that comes, he said. The Captain of the Ponce has authorisation to use the weapon, if the situation calls for it.

The device is operated using what Klunder said looks a lot like a game controller, Xbox, PS4 or whatever. He added, Any of you that can do Xbox or PS4, youll be good with this.

Rear Admiral Bryant Fuller, deputy commander of ship design, integration and naval engineering at naval sea systems command, added that an effect of the video-game like design of the controller was that those joining the navy are [already] very good at it.

The location of the demonstration, close to Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf, may be seen as boastful, if not outrightly provocative, but Fuller denied that there was any ulterior motives behind the location of the testing site and said that it was chosen because harsh conditions in the area allowed them to test the device to its fullest capacity.

One advantage the laser system has over traditional weapons systems is its cost. The price of firing or flyaway cost a missile, Klunder said, can be as much as $2m each, while the flyway cost of the laser system is just the price of the electricity it takes to power the device 59 cents per shot.

According to Fuller, the entire cost of installing the system on the Ponce, including its separate power-generation system, cooling systems and control station, was $40m, but that, he said, would come down considerably if we are going to mass-produce.

Klunder said that the device is not powerful enough to destroy frigate-sized vessels, but said that there was a 150 kilowatt laser weapon five times as powerful as the one mounted on the Ponce currently in development.

Under Protocol IV of the Geneva Convention (added in 1995), laser weapons are currently banned for use against humans. This is perhaps why, in the demonstration, wooden human figures are propped up on the target boat, to show that the system is accurate enough to destroy mounted weaponry while avoiding human targets.

We will not point lasers at people, said Klunder. We are going to honor the conventions.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/10/us-navy-test-laser-weapon-persian-gulf

Edited December 11, 2014 by Dazey

[magisme]

Peace is closer.

[Len Cnut]

Looking at the forum index i saw 'Massive fuck off laser' and knew immediately it was a Dazey topic

[Johnny Drama]

Bet you can't ruin someone's presentation with it though.

[Len Cnut]

Can you go park it somewhere else please? So when you have an 'accident' you do your own folks over instead of brown middle eastern folks cuz at this rate there won't be none left.

[Johnny Drama]

Yeah but Islams are rooting non stop with like fuckin 8 kids a family and that.

[Len Cnut]

I think they call that keep abreast with current affairs!

[Facekicker]

USS HOORAY FOR TOLERANCE

[Dazey]

The Captain of the Ponce has authorisation to use the weapon, if the situation calls for it.

Gold!!!!!

[downzy]

I could see warfare going back to hand-to-hand combat if technology keeps on getting better and better. We could get to the point where a machine could take out any bullet fired (a la Matrix) to the point that only hand-to-hand combat is the only viable option.

If that's the case, I better work on my ninja skills

[Ghostie]

cough, Wellstone's plane was "dazzled", cough