Monday, July 19, 2010

Anti-missile lasers

Raytheon made some further announcements today about their laser system which can knock down UAVs and other aerial threats. It's rated at 50 kW and is controlled by the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (a rapid fire terminal defence gun system).

Ten seconds of thought suggests painting the attack vehicle with a transparent surface coating containing millions of tiny corner reflectors. These will reflect the beam exactly back on itself and so fry the original laser system .