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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (35083)	7/27/2002 7:02:24 AM
From: D. Long	Respond to of 281500

Speaking of new weaponry, New Scientist is reporting on the Air Force strapping on 100Kw (!!) lasers to JSFs in the future. This, my friend, would be impressive. The article itself is just moaning about the collateral effects of a scattered beam at target impact (namely, burning out human corneas at up to 1km.) The weapon is the interesting part. From what I understand of lasers (which ain't much) a 1.5 watt laser at the wavelength the USAF wants to use will burn asphalt and cause 3rd degree burns if human skin is exposed for like 2 pulses. 100Kw would blow the crap out of that same asphalt. Crazy. Who says SDI hasn't paid off? newscientist.com ----------------------------------------------------------- The 100-kilowatt infrared laser, which is being developed for the F35 Joint Strike Fighter by defence companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, is far more powerful than any laser ever used in war. But because it is designed to attack targets such as other fighter aircraft, ground vehicles and anti-aircraft batteries, it is exempt from the Geneva Convention's ban on blinding weapons.