• peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
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    10 hours ago

    Laser weapons are cool because you just need LOS and the ability to perfectly track and object.

    The downside is that those lasers cough “excuse me” directed energy weapons, need time on the target to transfer enough power to damage the target.

    On a battlefield, time is a commodity you don’t have. The kamikaze drones make sense, they’re basically explosives attached to home made RC planes. But anything fancier is going to need to be very precise or far more power hungry itself.

    Which means if they are FIELDING them, and ANNOUNCING that they are using them, they have proven without a doubt that they are effective at their purpose. And it must be something else watching a line of fireballs just pop up in the sky 2km away.

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
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      4 hours ago

      need time on the target to transfer enough power to damage the target.

      I dont think its much of an issue at this point. A 2-3 seconds pulse should be more than enough to bring a consumer drone down.

      Interesting showcase of a US weapon system used for this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFiDYFnlp7s If they showcase this, then its probably outdated already and the current version is even better.

    • m4xie@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Another drawback is that they are more affected by atmospheric conditions such as rain and dust than projectile weapons are.

      • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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        42 seconds ago

        I’ve thought about this, but then I’ve also noticed that the soldiers say they prefer cloudy/foggy weather because there’s far fewer (almost no) drones active in those conditions. So if the primary target of the lasers is consumer grade drones, that that might not be a problem.

    • Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz
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      6 hours ago

      They are more likely air defence weapons that can’t be overwhelmed anywhere near like rockets can be.

  • gressen@lemm.ee
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    14 hours ago

    The laser weapon system is known as “Tryzub” which means “Trident”. I like the sound of that.

  • Skua@kbin.earth
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    14 hours ago

    I’ve been wondering if this would show up given how saturated the battlefield seems to be with cheap drones. The US, the UK, Germany, and Turkiye all have truck-mounted anti-drone laser weapons, and the Turkish one was supposedly actually used in combat in Libya

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Oh my god! Ukraine now has lasers! Just like inside my kidney!!!

    It’s confirmed. Putin is a big kidney stone.