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Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
JohnyFin With bad weather conditions this weapon is useless. On desert in Arizona of course will be 100% effective…. Reply
bolweval JohnyFin said: With bad weather conditions this weapon is useless. On desert in Arizona of course will be 100% effective…. most small drones need line of site to operate and don't do well in bad weather either… Reply
USAFRet JohnyFin said: With bad weather conditions this weapon is useless. On desert in Arizona of course will be 100% effective…. Drones also don't like bad weather conditions. Just because something is not usable 100% of the time, does not make it useless. Reply
razor512 A good upgrade would be to allow for aiming at ground level targets as well. E.g., getting chased by someone, it would help keep whoever is chasing you warm. Reply
hushnecampus How many shots can the battery/generator on the vehicle power? Curious to know how this compares to projectile based systems of the same size and weight. Reply
BFG-9000 As pointed out in the other laser thread, 20kW continuous is not a lot, and could easily be supplied with a 30HP generator. That would use 15lbs/hr of fuel which is 2.5gph If you think this setup would be around 30% efficient though, it's closer to 60kW input for 20kW out Reply
EzzyB hushnecampus said: How many shots can the battery/generator on the vehicle power? Curious to know how this compares to projectile based systems of the same size and weight. The details really aren't there. Projectile solutions have their own issues as drones are pretty small and generally those systems have to have a fragmentation warhead that needs to know when to explode. Meaning you literally have to program the round to explode when you want it at the time its fired. So, not much, if any less complicated. Reply
hushnecampus EzzyB said: The details really aren't there. Projectile solutions have their own issues as drones are pretty small and generally those systems have to have a fragmentation warhead that needs to know when to explode. Meaning you literally have to program the round to explode when you want it at the time its fired. So, not much, if any less complicated. Call me a massive nerd, but I kinda hope the directed energy solution really is the best. It just feels so sci-fi living in a world where laser weapons are a normal, genuinely useful thing! And if we're gonna have war, it might as well be *cool* war! On the other hand, a world where we're desperately trying to make laser weapons a thing, just for the sake of it when other solutions are better, just feels kinda embarrassing… Reply
frogr BFG-9000 said: As pointed out in the other laser thread, 20kW continuous is not a lot, and could easily be supplied with a 30HP generator. That would use 15lbs/hr of fuel which is 2.5gph If you think this setup would be around 30% efficient though, it's closer to 60kW input for 20kW out While not actively firing, the system would not be drawing 20kW (or 60kW.) The generator would be turning full RPM but lightly loaded. In fact, the system wouldn't be drawing any more power than a projectile-based system during the target detection and tracking phases. hushnecampu s "How many shots can the battery/generator on the vehicle power? Curious to know how this compares to projectile based systems of the same size and weight." Based on BFG-9000's estimate that 8 gallons of fuel could supply 1 hour's worth of " 20 kW laser shots," the question is how many seconds does it take to incapacitate a target? if it is 15 seconds -> 240 targets for 8 gallons of fuel. Reply
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/us-army-tests-20-000w-vehicle-mounted-laser-systems-for-drone-defense-updated-locust-device-is-now-more-lethal-against-drones#main
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