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It's overwhelmingly likely to be hooligans. Pointing a (visible) laser pointer is at a pilot is a great way of pissing them off, and is dangerous, but fundament

It's overwhelmingly likely to be hooligans. Pointing a (visible) laser pointer is at a pilot is a great way of pissing them off, and is dangerous, but fundamentally isn't a great military weapon. Many military nations have signed the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons [1] which explicitly forbids attacks of this sort. If you were a rouge state, doing this with a far IR CO2 laser is (a) more likely to have a "military effect" (big bang) and (b) harder to trace and not visible (think Cuba syndrome). For what it's worth, this is a good application of military technology with no loss of life. Firing lasers at aeroplanes is a Bad Thing™. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Weapons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Wea...

nradov 5y ago
The Chinese military has multiple types of blinding laser weapons. https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-4-blinding-laser-weapons-that-china-has-developed-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-4-blinding-las...
- Freak_NL 5y ago
  >> If you were a rouge state […] > The Chinese military […] They would, ostensibly, fall under the header of 'rouge state', but usually people just say 'red'.
  - littlestymaar 5y ago
    it's probably a typo for "rogue" state
openasocket 5y ago
Yeah, using blinding weapons on planes in a war scenario isn't very viable, treaty or not. Arguably blinding weapons could be helpful against infantry or armor, but not really against aircraft. If you're close enough to be able to shine a laser at an aircraft you're also more than close enough to fire a missile at it. Far more likely to have lethal effects, better range, plus you don't have to worry about your weapon being defeated by fog (to a degree if you're using IR-guided missiles). This is really limited to these "gray zone" conflicts in a non-wartime environment, and possibly when waging guerrilla warfare.

nradov 5y ago

The Chinese military has multiple types of blinding laser weapons. https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-4-blinding-laser-weapons-that-china-has-developed-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-4-blinding-las...

Freak_NL 5y ago
>> If you were a rouge state […] > The Chinese military […] They would, ostensibly, fall under the header of 'rouge state', but usually people just say 'red'.
- littlestymaar 5y ago
  it's probably a typo for "rogue" state

openasocket 5y ago

Yeah, using blinding weapons on planes in a war scenario isn't very viable, treaty or not. Arguably blinding weapons could be helpful against infantry or armor, but not really against aircraft. If you're close enough to be able to shine a laser at an aircraft you're also more than close enough to fire a missile at it. Far more likely to have lethal effects, better range, plus you don't have to worry about your weapon being defeated by fog (to a degree if you're using IR-guided missiles). This is really limited to these "gray zone" conflicts in a non-wartime environment, and possibly when waging guerrilla warfare.