3 ms·
Lasers are supposedly the next big close range drone killers, less than $100 per shot, and infinite rounds (as long as you have fuel obviously).
by 323 4y ago
Lasers are supposedly the next big close range drone killers, less than $100 per shot, and infinite rounds (as long as you have fuel obviously).
- zmgsabst 4y agoThere may be a question for swarms though: An air burst round doesn’t require the system stay pointed as a single target, whereas a laser needs a few seconds on target. At speed-of-sound, a munition moves at about 0.2 miles per second, or about a mile in the engagement time. Which caps the number of targets it can intercept to a handful.
- happyopossum 4y ago> At speed-of-sound, a munition moves at about 0.2 miles per second That's cute - but we aren't firing airguns at these things. A CIWS (the R2D2 looking missile defense cannons) fires its rounds with a velocity of around 3600ft/s, or 3.5x what you seem to be thinking.
- zmgsabst 4y agoI was guesstimating on the low side, for incoming munitions. Faster munitions means that the laser can intercept proportionally fewer targets — which is why it’s a question of if lasers can fend off swarms the way gun based solutions can.