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"For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism." -
As an addendum:
a milspec 104kw fully electric diode pumped laser weapon has been achieved just in the last couple of weeks. Goal is for mounting in aircraft, on ships and wheeled vehicles. Also highly scalable so megawatt class versions are just a bundling operation away. Each laser module is 16-20kw (for now) and their beams are blended into one hellatious beam using next gen fiber-optics. A bit large now, but that's the lab version where size wasn't part of the design process. Shouldn't be too hard to shrink it from the table size now to something much smaller.
No chemicals, no vacuum tubes, no limit to the number of shots as long as the generator is running and the cooling system holds up, and they have a generator that'll fit in an F-35B Lightning II in place of the STOVL lift fan and driven by the same power shaft.
How effective could 100+kw be? As the above article says the Avenger vehicles 1 kw laser can shoot UAV's out of the sky. Seems the trick is not to achieve ultimate beam quality but to let it be a bit 'dirty'.Last edited by Dr Mordrid; 6 January 2010, 02:36.Dr. Mordrid
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An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps
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