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Asking for a friend: Is there any portable, viable laser device that could be shoulder fired (backpack powered?) with enough energy to actually drill a hole in

Asking for a friend: Is there any portable, viable laser device that could be shoulder fired (backpack powered?) with enough energy to actually drill a hole in one of these from afar? If talking jamming frequencies (illegal) then why not just up the ante and go with a precision weapon? Zap N Crash!

windlep 11y ago
It seems people aren't thrilled with the prospect of debris landing on people underneath. More likely we'll end up with bigger drones that grab smaller drones with a net so they won't fall at this rate, or some sort of net-gun that after wrapping the drone immediately yanks it back fast enough that it won't hit the ground/people.
Captain_Usher 11y ago
I'm sure there's something like what you're describing in existence, probably in a lab somewhere, clamped in front of a metal plate with burn marks on it. I think you're out of luck on commercially available man-portable lasers for effectively shooting down a drone in a real-world scenario. There's a reason why people making videos of their lasers on Youtube are using them to pop balloons. Even if that sort of laser for sale at a reasonable cost, you probably don't want or need one for killing drones. If you've escalated to actually blowing the drone out of the sky, you might as well use a gun. Guns are great at that and they're much cheaper. The bullets and shot you fire into the air do pose a safety risk on the way back down, but if reasonable steps are taken it's probably not a big enough deal to justify using a laser instead. (Caveat: in dense urban areas it's very difficult to even begin taking those "reasonable steps" and firing anything into the air is a recipe for tragedy. If you're seriously looking to take out a drone in a city, a laser makes a lot more sense.) Another downside is that the laser needs to be held on its target to work, and that's a pain in the ass when the target is a drone. Even a relatively stable model flown by a skilled operator is still going to bob and weave, and the drone is presumably not hovering perfectly still while you're trying to break it. Today, hitting that target once with a shotgun is probably easier than holding a laser on it for the amount of time you'd need. In the future, that will probably not remain true. Lasers (or really any devices that emit energy in a tight beam) are inherently better long-range direct-fire weapons than firearms because the laser moves in a straight line and you can get it to go farther. Travel time is pretty obviously another area where lasers win. As laser technology improves, we'll see more powerful lasers that can do damage in less time and automated platforms for doing the aiming. A future scenario where militaries use automated energy weapons against unmanned aircraft is very realistic, so a future scenario where a police officer shoots down a drone with a laser is certainly within the realm of possibility.
snerbles 11y ago
That laser is going to require accurate tracking to heat a target to the point of damage. Additionally, reflected laser light of that intensity is not usually safe to look at without protection.
lmm 11y ago
No. Portable laser weapons are simply not possible with current electricity storage technology. Those railguns the navy are experimenting with are intended for mounting on ships and wiring into the powerplant, and a laser would be even worse in that regard. If you want a weapon for making holes in flying things, the answer for drones is the same as for birds or planes: a gun, or a missile for bigger, higher ones.

windlep 11y ago

It seems people aren't thrilled with the prospect of debris landing on people underneath. More likely we'll end up with bigger drones that grab smaller drones with a net so they won't fall at this rate, or some sort of net-gun that after wrapping the drone immediately yanks it back fast enough that it won't hit the ground/people.

Captain_Usher 11y ago

I'm sure there's something like what you're describing in existence, probably in a lab somewhere, clamped in front of a metal plate with burn marks on it. I think you're out of luck on commercially available man-portable lasers for effectively shooting down a drone in a real-world scenario. There's a reason why people making videos of their lasers on Youtube are using them to pop balloons. Even if that sort of laser for sale at a reasonable cost, you probably don't want or need one for killing drones. If you've escalated to actually blowing the drone out of the sky, you might as well use a gun. Guns are great at that and they're much cheaper. The bullets and shot you fire into the air do pose a safety risk on the way back down, but if reasonable steps are taken it's probably not a big enough deal to justify using a laser instead. (Caveat: in dense urban areas it's very difficult to even begin taking those "reasonable steps" and firing anything into the air is a recipe for tragedy. If you're seriously looking to take out a drone in a city, a laser makes a lot more sense.) Another downside is that the laser needs to be held on its target to work, and that's a pain in the ass when the target is a drone. Even a relatively stable model flown by a skilled operator is still going to bob and weave, and the drone is presumably not hovering perfectly still while you're trying to break it. Today, hitting that target once with a shotgun is probably easier than holding a laser on it for the amount of time you'd need. In the future, that will probably not remain true. Lasers (or really any devices that emit energy in a tight beam) are inherently better long-range direct-fire weapons than firearms because the laser moves in a straight line and you can get it to go farther. Travel time is pretty obviously another area where lasers win. As laser technology improves, we'll see more powerful lasers that can do damage in less time and automated platforms for doing the aiming. A future scenario where militaries use automated energy weapons against unmanned aircraft is very realistic, so a future scenario where a police officer shoots down a drone with a laser is certainly within the realm of possibility.

snerbles 11y ago

That laser is going to require accurate tracking to heat a target to the point of damage. Additionally, reflected laser light of that intensity is not usually safe to look at without protection.

lmm 11y ago

No. Portable laser weapons are simply not possible with current electricity storage technology. Those railguns the navy are experimenting with are intended for mounting on ships and wiring into the powerplant, and a laser would be even worse in that regard. If you want a weapon for making holes in flying things, the answer for drones is the same as for birds or planes: a gun, or a missile for bigger, higher ones.