Navy on Monday reported the development of new defense plans for ships currently deployed in the Persian Gulf. One of them, in particular, will be equipped with a laser weapon.
The use of lasers in the military sphere has been discussed for more than a decade, but now we are talking about the introduction of the first real weapon of this type. So why did it take so long to develop effective laser weapons?
The first reason concerns the power source for such weapons, the selection of which is a serious engineering problem. The theory behind laser weapons is extremely simple: the task is to destroy a target using a concentrated beam of electromagnetic energy.
Conventional weapons work in much the same way: a rifle bullet is just a more tangible way of delivering a lethal amount of energy.
The concept is so simple that people have twisted the idea differently for millennia. Legend has it that during the siege of Syracuse, Archimedes was able to set fire to the sails of enemy ships using the sun's rays.
The alien beams from HG Wells' War of the Worlds are a fantastic weapon that also relies on the principle of energy beams. As well as the "Death Star" from "Star Wars" that destroyed the planet Alderaan. Defense experts have been talking about laser weapons since the late 1970s. Nevertheless, the creation of effective laser weapons is fraught with a number of serious technical problems.
The first and most important question is the source of energy. Even in the best models, the laser uses only 20% of the electricity supplied to the weapon. Aiming and focusing the laser beam requires even more power. In connection with such an overexpenditure of a laser with a power of 20 kilowatts, which can destroy or seriously damage a small ship, hundreds of kilowatts of electricity are required. (For comparison: an ordinary window air conditioner consumes 1 kilowatt). This is why this new weapon is installed on a battleship where there is more than enough electricity.
Even if we someday discover a miniature power source that can efficiently power a laser, we will not be able to create a portable laser weapon. The point is that a typical laser setup actually emits three beams.
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The first beam is used to measure atmospheric distortion. Next, a special computer calculates how to change the beam to adapt it to the current conditions. The second beam is needed to track the target. Despite what is often written in science fiction, the laser must be focused on a target for a few seconds in order to deal serious damage to it. Thus, the second beam keeps the moving target in focus. The third ray is a real energy wave and is about a meter in diameter. The laser usually heats up quickly, and therefore the unit is equipped with a cooling system.
The second major hurdle concerns the difficulty of deploying laser weapons on the battlefield. Such weapons should not only be feasible from a technical point of view, but have better qualities and a lower cost than the existing ones. Therefore, the army preferred to use the first samples of laser weapons in clearly defined niches, and not create a separate branch of the military for it.
Currently, the most effective example is the Tactical High Energy Laser, which has enough power to destroy small objects such as flying mortar shells. The Navy has another problem with small targets. The fact is that getting on small and maneuverable ships with conventional weapons is not an easy task. A tactical laser, in turn, only needs to focus on an approaching ship for a few seconds to blow up its fuel tanks or damage the engine. This will avoid a repeat suicide attack on USS Cole in 2000.
But what does the target that the laser weapon is facing? She heats up. The laser carries energy. The powerful laser heats the surface of your skin and the cells underneath extremely quickly. It is certainly an extremely painful experience, and anyone who stays too long under the 20 kilowatt laser beam will inevitably die.
However, the military is unlikely to start using lasers against humans in the foreseeable future. The fact is that they are not just bulky: they take a long time to kill. If you feel the laser on you, you just need to hide behind any opaque object for protection.
However, the military is considering making weapons using microwave technology to disperse crowds: when exposed to this heat, people tend to flee. In any case, bullets will long remain a much more effective way to injure or kill a person than any laser.