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250lb - can carry Hellfire. New incarnation of a multi-month-on-station [previously nuclear] bomber/cruise missile concept.
by VladRussian2 13y ago
250lb - can carry Hellfire. New incarnation of a multi-month-on-station [previously nuclear] bomber/cruise missile concept.
- samstave 13y agoImagine these things being able to be re-supplied with munitions whilst in flight.
- VladRussian2 13y agowell, imagination can run pretty wild - instead of Hellfire one can just arm them with a good 50KWt solid state laser - no resupply necessary: http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=52628 http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=52628 "The device cut through a 15-mm-thick steel girder at a range of 1000 m, shot down several diving target unmanned aerial vehicles at a range of 2 km flying more than 50 m/s, and engaged an 82-mm-diameter steel ball representing a mortar round and traveling approximately 50 m/s. "
- samstave 13y agoThats amazing. Imagine also when we get good graphene super-capacitors that are smallish and light-ish and we can fill the wings with them. Trickle charge them with solar power and have each one large enough for a burst of that laser - and it can charge over time and then have a battery of burst avaialable to it.
- PhasmaFelis 13y agoHmmm. How much damage could a 250-pound fin-guided kinetic penetrator do, falling from 12 miles up? Could you kill a tank with that? Not much good for blowing up wedding processions, admittedly. But it is interesting to think about. I don't think you'd want a stock Hellfire for a vehicle like this. Whatever the payload, you're probably looking at something more like a guided bomb than a missile.