German Laser Destroys Targets More Than 1Km Away

kkleiner writes "A German company has brought us one step closer to the kinds of shootouts only seen in Sci-Fi films. Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall Defense recently tested a 50kW, high-energy laser at their proving ground facility in Switzerland. First, the system sliced through a 15mm- (~0.6 inches) thick steel girder from a kilometer away. Then, from a distance of two kilometers, it shot down a handful of drones as they nose-dived toward the surface at 50 meters per second."

Now we need flintsteel armor.

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone else think of the Bolo books when reading this.

I guess I was naive

[davidwr]

I figured if a laser's very tight-column beam was so close to "perfect" that if it could destroy something at 10 meters, it could destroy or at least severely damage it at 1,000 meters, at least in a vacuum.

Perhaps I should be impressed that 1 km of atmosphere didn't disrupt the laser enough to disable its destructive power. Next time, try 1km of fog or 1km of Beijing smog.

Re:50 m/s = 180 km/h = 111.85 mph

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do people still use non-metric system?

Re:Oooh shiny!!!

[SirGarlon]

That might be harder than you think. No reflective material is perfect: they would all absorb some heat from the laser. So you'd need a material that retains its reflectivity at high temperature. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm saying it would be a technology race between the reflective materials and the high-energy lasers.

If true, low-level warplanes just became obsolete

[dtjohnson]

This kind of weapon would be an incredible boost for air defense, at least for close-in ground support and other low-level attacks. It wouldn't do much against artillery shells or naval gunfire. It would also likely allow the development of a laser-based missile defense system far superior to a patriot system. If these things come to pass, the balance of power would shift away from nations with a heavy emphasis on air power (i.e. the U.S. with its aircraft carriers and air force) towards nations with large and mobile ground forces.

Still too weak

[cheesybagel]

100 kW is considered to be militarily useful, 1 MW is considered to be a battle grade laser.

There are 100 kW solid state lasers [engadget.com] available to the US military so this is not exactly leading edge military laser power. The interesting bit about this article is the revolver design they used.