3 ms·

It might just be a battle of the algorithms then... is your radar + laser interceptor better than their missiles' agility and countermeasures?

• SomeStupidPoint 10y ago
  It's also a question of volume: if you can shoot down 15 missiles, then can I get 20 in flight? There are also things like rail guns, which might be harder to intercept with a laser.
  • M_Grey 10y ago
    Yeah... that's a lot of momentum to deal with, in a rail gun. Deflecting it would be hard, and disrupting it would tend to turn the slug into a co-moving cloud of superheated particles/plasma. I'm not sure that's hugely desirable either!
    • AnimalMuppet 10y ago
      Well, that superheated cloud would probably disperse some, making it more susceptible to air resistance than the slug is. On the other hand, if you only liquefy it, and so you get hit with the same mass of liquid metal...
      • M_Grey 10y ago
        Oh god. It might be a better outcome for the actual vessel, but... You know, I think you'd just see a radical re-design in that case, you'd have to; like the Zumwalt, only more armored.
  • AnimalMuppet 10y ago
    If you can launch 20, I can add another laser. Just in terms of economics, you aren't going to win that fight. A rail gun: If I shoot a laser at a missile, I can detonate the warhead, or the propellant, or destroy the guidance system. If I fire it at a railgun projectile, I can vaporize the whole thing, or I can vaporize part of it and hope that it changes the course due to either ablation forces or changing the aerodynamics. That's harder. On the other hand, a railgun isn't really a precision weapon, either.