"US Energy Weapons: Ready to Deploy?" Topic

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For the record, it appears that these weapons have been used in the efforts to knock down drones and missiles in the conflict with the Houthis and Iran, and have been very successful. The above article mentions this (a long way down), and the details are obviously highly classified and thus very vague.

I recall an old premise from Steve Jackson's classic Ogre/GEV game which explained why air forces were not part of the game's future. The answer? Because the lasers always shoot them all down.
Maybe that argument isn't quite so convenient after all.

Ogre/GEV now sounds like prophecy.

That was a premise in Hammer's Slammers as well. Air defense could see a flyer as soon as it popped over the horizon, and milliseconds later a power bolt would be headed it's way.

The next stage will be counter direct energy technology. Lasers are by their nature, light. Light can be reflected, absorbed or diffused. Also, how do these weapons perform in environmental conditions with water droplets such as clouds, rain or mist? Also at night there could be issues with optics and the other optics such as thermal imaging and IR have known constraints.
it will be interesting.

I believe the USS Gerald Ford was built with mounts for laser weapons. I suspect they will be part of a diversified array of options, so as not to have too many eggs in one basket. Weapons are evolving much faster with computer input and tech.

Atmospheric moisture will be an issue for many energy weapons, but there is not a lot of moisture in the Middle East. There's also a lot less atmosphere overall way up high where a lot of this combat will take place.

As for countermeasures, the holy grail will be something that reflects energy weapons but dow *not* reflect radar. Or reflects radar off specific directions so as to remain stealth, but still being aerodynamically manageable.

I personally don't think AI will ever get to the Ogre level, but it certainly could get good enough to drive a tank.

Now all we need is Bi-Phase Carbide armor.

But energy weapons will likely appear over the next decade.

"Lasers" need not be in the Visible Light spectrum. There are plenty of possible wavelengths not affected by clouds or water vapor.

UV lasers are less susceptible to moisture than visible or IR, but they are more strongly affected by dust and smoke. IR is worse for everything. UV, being more energetic, is the best bet for destructiveness as well. They should go through clouds, but you could still protect yourself with a smoke screen.

I personally don't think AI will ever get to the Ogre level

As I've indicated before in these forums, I am highly confident that AI will get to the ED-209 level.

youtu.be/TYsulVXpgYg

Microwave and other Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) are also emerging.

Watching a show last night, on History, or Travel Channel(?) … Where it was mentioned what has been said before and we may have known anyway. That the US Gov't/Military is working on things we used to just see in Sci-fi. They mentioned e.g. FTL travel, Stargates/wormholes, MagLev tech, time travel, anti-grav, protocols for first contact, Remote Viewing, etc., etc.

So DEW is on the list and may be close to being a reality …

The big challenge for all of these is getting enough energy on target for sufficient duration to effect the target before it closes it's target. All part of a layered defense for ships.

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Measure – Countermeasure – Counter Countermeasure… repeat …

Tech moves fast, so being ahead of the other guy, before the other guy is ahead of you … seems like that should be SOP.

We can only guess what is really going on at DARP, Area 51, NASA, etc., etc.