What is Digg?94 Comments
- ScottJG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+41That blast came from the Skyguard! That things operational!
- astatine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34It's a trap!
- raynar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+41I here that, but after 400 billion wasted in Iraq, some of the good stuff has to get put or at least sidelined until we can get that mess cleaned up. Most people don't know, but we are borrowing money every single day from China and other nations just to finance our debt.
- cdlavalle, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20They may cut the "bullet on bullet" missile to missile defense that has never overcome the basic conceptual problems with that design but no one will cut such an obviously effective technology. The missile to missile system that is rolled out every couple years to fail by the Pentagon, I think, is just a PR smokescreen to divert attention from systems anyway. The laser projectile defense systems have been deployed on an operational level in Israel for almost a decade.
- growlzor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16Thats gotta be one of the coolest thing I've ever seen! But when you think about it, as cool as this is, how cool is the stuff they can't/won't show us!?
- digitalrift, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10this reminds me of the simpsons episode where kids are throwing rocks at this old man's house. He installs a laser security system that blasts rocks before they hit his house. kids come in droves to throw rocks at his house.
- noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8the "missile defense" budget is for long range, payload carrying missiles
this defense unit is for short ranged ones on the battlefield that just go boom - LouCypher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"Pretty cool and at $150 million a piece, Bill Gates might even pick one up for his place."
Of course he has the money, but it's still too expensive just to stop those pie cakes from hitting his face. - hellmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9reminds me of the movie real genius with val kilmer
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I guess you haven't seen their AirGuard movie huh? Huuuge vaccuum cleaner.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5niiiice, but what happens when you wrap mirrors around a missle? Would the laser just bounce off and that's the end of that?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Shooting a bullet down with a bullet is slightly less than impossible. Lasers are more reasonable, but from what I have heard, they just cause the warhead to detonate early, by heating up the missile. That still would spread any chemical, biological, or radioactive weapon's payload.
- noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8just because youtube doesn't show it shooting down planes doesn't mean it can't.
- thomasthecat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Do you want to play Thermonuclear War?
- 0siris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4you dont think that thing could burn a plane up in its path? the only big problem with that is the plane would create a ton of debris
- thesteampunk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@Crass22
The christmas tree actually comes from European pre-Christian pagan cultures.
Way to be off-topic AND incorrect at the same time. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Its just a frickin laaazer beam
- 0siris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6It's a "Chemical" laser, which is not in the same waveleghth as light; mirrors would do nothing. Its more infrared and thus is invisible to the human eye, and mostly heat. Its not a "light" laser the way a scope of a gun is, but an energy one.
The only thing about it that makes it a laser is the way they concentrate the energy into a beam rather then letting it scatter (the difference between a flashlight and a laser pointer). - Keddren, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Pfft, it's no replacement for Emmett Fitz-Hume and Austin Millbarge.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5So what happens when a plane flies by near the missle's tragectory? Does it re-target and shoot down the plane too?
Also, it uses a high-powered laser right? Does that mean you can start covering rounds in highly-reflective chrome to render it useless? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Also, what type of laser are they using? A chemical laser, like is in the airborn version of this, gets about 15-20 shots out of an entire 747 full of 'fuel'.
- noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4this one is not being used on missiles like that, ones that would carry payloads.
these are short ranged defenses.
i'm sure long ranged defense would blow out the propulsion unit instead of the payload - videoCT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3the ability to destroy a mortar round is nothing compared with the power of the....wait, did you say you can destroy a mortar round? Sweet!
- drizek, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5This was an ad. They play it up so people invest in their company. Not saying that its fake, but ill eat my hat if it is as good as they say it is.
As for the stuff they dont show us, maybe instead of spending billions developing weapons to fight some imaginary soviet threat, we should be spending our time figuring out an iraq exit strategy. - gardnert1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"This summer’s war between Lebanon and Israel was the most recent demonstration of the deadly threat posed by shoulder-fired missiles. Lebanese Hezbollah fighters armed with portable rocket launchers fired more than 3,700 missiles into Israeli cities during the 34-day conflict. With a growing number of such weapons, referred to in military-speak as MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems) showing up on the black market, "
I cant believe they didn't do enough research on the war to figure out that the missles werent shoulder-fired. Anyone with a TV this summer can tell you the Katyushas are squad portable in the the single tube version or multi-tube in the vehicle-borne version, but not at all shoulder-fired; i believe you'd get your face burnt off if you did that. Other than that, good article.
PS- I believe they were referring to the anti-tank missles Hezboallah used with deadly efficiency; those were white phosphorus and most likely wire-guided shoulder-fired missles. - Fejerro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You're assuming that it's the only thing on the battlefield. Deployment of such a defensive system would also include other defenses to cover the weak spots.
- Shivetya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3different environment. This is a tactical weapon, meaning battlefield. Whereas what you were remembering is strategic. The threat intercepted here is low altitude and the other system is high altitude intercept.
Still I would think that lasers one day will do that job as well. - glmory, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Since we haven't had any nuclear, biological, or chemical rockets or shells used on us since world war one. I think thats a risk I am willing to take. Any decent terriorist would hide a nuke in a boat or van anyways.
Also there is a big difference from a mid air nuclear detonation over the mid pacific, and one in the middle of San Francisco. - VirgoanVenom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V1pkTMCZ0M
- patonw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Every high-tech system has a low-tech countermeasure, but that doesn't nullify the benefit of deploying such a thing.
- noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4i have a feeling its more than just a laser. probably microwaves in there too. mirror-coating your missiles probably won't do enough, though its an interesting notion :)
- ghostbyte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So what does this have to do with a tree house? Take a look at the Quicktime download.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"this one is not being used on missiles like that, ones that would carry payloads.
these are short ranged defenses.
i'm sure long ranged defense would blow out the propulsion unit instead of the payload"
I saw the video, and they were using the system against rockets fired by a MLRS. Those could easily be SCUDs with biological or chemical payloads. - josegutz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Skyguard... Oooh No... I see another wargames movie coming around.
- rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The article says that it tracks heat blooms around the airport and compares them to a database before firing.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm willing to bet the small engines on small private or commuter jets produce heat blooms similar to missiles.
Besides, what safeguards are in place to prevent terrorists from disabling, interfering, or, perish the thought, hijack the communication signal from the control tower? - 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm not buying until I see what this system could do against bird strikes.
Maybe fry the offending bird before it hits the a jet engine intake?
And If it could dissipate fog easily - That would make the system worth the money - Mambo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't know. It looks like that laser system only works on projectiles that come in at a fairly high altitude. I wonder how well it works against a lower flying RPG that is horizontal to the ground or a cruise missile following the landscape.
All it takes is one grunt to shoot a rocket at it, and then they could shell the hell out of anything they want. - velvethead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, but it's still not as cool as the Remote Sentries in Aliens. Cut from the original, they were featured in the Director's Cut (very cool btw), and explained why the aliens came through the ceiling.
- Egoist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"That still would spread any chemical, biological, or radioactive weapon's payload."
Yes, but hopefully at a distance. I'd rather have a chemical, biological, or radioactive payload explode 10 miles out than in the center of my city. - foopirata, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You mean, "goo"-fired by us-going in the right direction and "bad"-fired by them-coming in our direction?
Sort of explains itself, no? - kooft, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The Russian SS-27 has been 'hardened' against laser defense systems. Granted, they're not going to give away this technology to just anyone, but it _is_ possible to defeat laser defense systems. Heck, they've been working on it for close to 20 years.
- Egoist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Quiz: This laser based system came from:
A) Nowhere
B) Years of R&D and billions of dollars spent on developing a system for the proposed "Star Wars" program by big mean and scary defense contractors, paid for by evil rich white men whose ancestors more than likely once owned slaves and probably ran over a kitten on their way to work this morning.
Quick! The clock's ticking! 10 POINT BONUS: See if you can answer in 3 insults or less! - Egoist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is that sarcasm or stupidity? Who do you think is paying for and developing the laser based system? It ain't tree-hugging hippies.
- mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The video looks fake. They've just edited it so they're showing various projectiles and then cutting in a clip of something exploding.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is an israeli invention
- Mambo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I imagine it would do a pretty good job at stopping a plane. They are filled with fuel.
- gregorypierce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This has actually been around for a while. The Israelis have deployed systems of this type around their nuclear facilities. THEL is one of the great things to come out of the WhiteSands tests, but the biggest problem for it is fuel consumption. While cost per shot is VERY reasonable, storage of fuel for the laser has made a truly mobile variant largely impractical.
And no this isn't fake, THEL is quite real and has been around for quite some time. Using it at an airport is a great use case for it as its unlikely to encounter considerable volleys of missiles that could overwhelm the tracking and laser system. - bushawa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Um, so is it just me or would it be easy to take out a mobile missile command bunker that is the size of three school buses? The laser is positioned on top, so it won't be able to take out rockets that are below its radar. I remember seeing another countermeasure which was attached to vehicles which once the rocket, mortar etc gets close it is destroyed. Now that was way cooler and could be attached to any vehicle.
- vmerc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@ digitalrift
That's only because the old man was too spineless to go out and shoot those kids with slingshot pellets every time they tossed... Or just aim the lasers at their throwing shoulder. -
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