I'm talking about a frickin' laser!
No pics or Dr Evil references in the first 50 posts .... just shameful ...
Posted on 09/28/2004 8:12:49 PM PDT by ableChair
Greta Van Susteren reported that a Delta pilot enroute to Salt Lake City was lazed in the cockpit this last Wednesday. Only country I know that has that hardware (for lazing bomber pilots) was the Soviet Union. Pilot reportedly required medical treatment and this was not a minor injury (weak laser) wound. More will come out to tomorrow as this story hits the print press.
If it was a couple of years ago it wasn't Soviet, but rather Russian. My recollection is that it was Soviet,but it wasn't a commercial aircraft that got lazed. It was a Canadian Forces chopper, with an American observer aboard. One Canadian and the American suffered permanent eye damage, IIRC.
I would expect most conventional glass to be transmissive at 1064 nm. Fused silica, BK7, etc. certainly are. Most glasses will soak up deep UV as will the atmosphere.
By the way, if lasers don't dissipate energy (apparently not at all if we believe you) then why did the SDI lasers they were trying to develop in the 80's require 10 exp 16 watts of power? Granted, they're burning metal, but metal should take NO WHERE NEAR 10 exp 16 watts to burn. Where's the dissipation occuring? This is one reason why SDI was so difficult to achieve, remember?
???
Well in that case calculate the safe viewing distance of, say, 500 mJ of Nd:YAG light in a beam with a M-squared of 1.1.
Laser weapons are impractical except under certain conditions.
Nonsense.
Not to mention the fact that you'd have to hit a small target (a face) and hold it there for at least a few seconds, while the airplane was moving anywhere from 160 mph on takeoff or final approach, to 500+ mph at cruise altitudes of 33,000 feet or more.
I'm not saying it couldn't happen, it's just an awful odd thing to hear about. It almost sounds more accident than intentional, though I can't fathom how either could occur.
}:-)4
You might be interested in this. You are right about the NdYAG lasers.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/other/laser.htm
Anti-Personnel Lasers
Blinding and vision disruption by visible and IR lasers in third world inventories are primarily low-power sygtems, which limits their retina damage to a range of about 2NM. The primary threat for aircrews would be the ND:YAG laser, which is invislble and painless during exposure, and capable of retina damage to a range of about 3NM. Iraq, with its extensive mix of western and Communist-block systems, was expected to deploy the full spectrum of available tactical lasers.
During the Iran/Iraq War, Iranian soldlers suffered over 4000 documented eye casualtles from Iraqi laser systems, enough to indicate Iraq's employment of some laser systems specifically for their casuaity- producing effect. The Iranian casualties showed effects caused by different types of lasers, which was indicative of the mix of western and Communist-block systems in the Iraqi inventory. The injuries, described as retinal burns and hemorrhages, reportedly were caused by a laser device associated with Iraqi tanks. The reported injuries could have been inflicted by a visible or near-infrared laser, most likely a tank-mounted ruby or neodymium/glass laser rangefinder. Laser eye injuries probably occurred as a result of the use of tank-mounted laser rangefinders or other laser systems. These systems possibly were used in an offensive, antipersonnel mode, with the explicit purpose of blinding troops. Hand-held laser rangefinders and designators associated with armor or artillery could be used in an attempt to dazzle, disorient, or blind personnel in low-flying aircraft (fixed and rotor wing). Lasers also have been purchased by Iraq presumably for military application. It was reported that Iraq fielded these lasers as antisensor or antipersonnel weapons; however, no confirmation exists to support this report.
While range and power considerations made their use more difficult against aircraft than ground personnel, a soldier possessing such a system would attempt to use it when under air attack. The Iranian fighter/bomber pilots routinely avoided low level tactics over Iraqi ground troops, thus providing no historical data for assessment.
Daytime tracking of aircraft would obviously be easier for the laser operator, accomplished by binoculars mechanically boresighted to the laser system. Daytime dazzle effects, however, are reduced due to the eye's adaption to bright, daytime light. At night, the operator has a considerably more difficult time aiming the device, but its effect is several magnitudes higher due to the increased sengitivlty of the night- adapted eye.
Dazzling is not the same as blinding. Read the story. We are talking here about the cockpit being illuminated and the pilot being "blinded." I say that is extremely unlikely. The flash will be very disconcerting and cause temporary visual problems (imagine being in the dark for an hour and someone turning on a floodlight), but this is not going to cause permanent blindness or retinal, lenticular, or corneal burns.
Shite! Lighting brush on fire from 1000 meters with an uber-laser for under 100k? I think the Mk1 Mod0 eyeball will be sunnyside up with one of those suckers blazin in your general direction. The day will come when pilots will wear eye protection for takeoff and landing for this reason, and that day will be very soon. Another sad day in the march of technology, but all you can do is fight the good fight and adapt to the threat. I hope the airlines get on with the protection ASAP before we crash a plane due to this.
Only the peak power needs to be high not the average power.
A typical Nd:YAG Q-switched pulse is 10-15 nanoseconds long. A whole buttload of photons show up at the same time.
If it hits the nerve connection to the eyeball, its lights out forever.
Otherwise, you just end up with some crappy spots in your vision. (assuming the wavelength reaches the retina in the first place)
A laser fired from the earth would not "light up the cockpit" as you suggest. Actually, the pilot, whose line of sight aligned with the laser, would experience a painful sensation as his retinal tissues were dameged (burned). For those on this thread who have scoffed or suggested that this is not possible, I assure them that it is quite possible and has in fact been done before. It would take a powerful (CO2, HeNe, or Ar) laser, with a significant power source to do this, but it is do-able to be sure.
I'm talking about a frickin' laser!
No pics or Dr Evil references in the first 50 posts .... just shameful ...
Deep UV is strongly absorbed in air.
Almost, in "Debt of Honor", Mr. Clarke and Mr. Chavez shined a very bright light, but a white light not a laser, into the cockpits of Japanese military AWACS.
Yes, that was the first thing that I thought of too. I'm not sure that lazer hit ever made national news.
Millions of watts of peak intensity is commonplace.
Its the trillions of watts that are a tricky to build.
I have heard of this case, and it DID happen.
I heard about this 5 years ago(?) Two helicopter pilots, one had serious eye damage.
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