The not particularly awesome result was announced by Boeing, maker of the ATL, yesterday.
Probably what was said after someone demonstrated black powder, cloth and gravel poured down a piece of pipe and touched off with a fuze.
Kinda sums it up, don’t it? Bullets would be a lot cheaper. Just because you can do something technically, doesn’t mean it makes sense.
lasers have a greater range than bullets.
I can see where somebody might want to have the capability of precisely putting a hole in a fender from a sniper satellite somewhere 200~300 miles high up in overhead orbit (or however high they place those things)
>Just because you can do something technically, doesn’t mean it makes sense.
Like using C/C++ to program your system in instead of something that Range-checks array access (ie buffer overwrites)... hm?
I don't know... They didn't say this was the limit of the power they had available, did they? Might be a modest power proof of concept. Actually with super accurate weapons like lasers targeting and target motion compensation is the hard part. It is one thing to have a "pretty good" idea of where something is, then shoot a smart weapon at it. This engagement sequence relies on the weapon for terminal guidance.
But with a directed energy weapon, the "launch" platform, no matter how far away or doing who knows what in terms of motion relative to the target is the final arbiter of hit/miss.
I think it is yet another step on the path to effective directed energy weapons.
Someone else a while back pointed out that if a solid state laser system could be made small enough... Well, take the STOL version of the F-35... Pull the vertical lift turbine out, and put a generator in there on the shaft from the engine. Quite possibly more than enough power for an escort directed energy fighter that could fly with a strike group and take out *all* the SAMs launched at the group.
If you think the goal of this program is to put holes in fenders then you really might like some other websites more suited to your age-range.
correct, but complex systems require lengthy development schedules that proceed in steps. one more step was taken. once they get proof of concept, systems tend to decrease in size and cost whiole increasing in effect.