Looking forward to there being some derivative technology for mosquitoes.
Remember this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcwBH_Uevxo
Where is that I wonder.
Fog, smoke, mirrored drones?
Mirrors won't save you. A high powered laser will burn through a mirror as if it wasn't even there.
Thanks for the knowledge.
What about gold fashioned chaff. It feels like there's probably some countermeasures to be considered.
useless for many terestrial aplications, lasers are limited to line of site, and will have low mobility for the forseeable future. it is just way too easy to develop drones that fly at ultra low altitude and automaticaly aproach targets from behind any line of site obsticle. simple tactics of a randomised deek and dodge routine will also tax the tracking capabilities of the laser batteries ability to hit such small targets remembering that the deeking and dodging will be in 3D and as the lasers will be the prime targets, these tactics will develop very quickly, and the whole thing becomes self defeating waste of time
I'm not clear why a laser is any worse at attacking low flying drones compared to the existing defense options.
Of course the laser head will need to stick out. Compared to a battery of rockets it will be easier to shield though. And explosion risks are greatly reduced. I'd assume netting is already a standard feature of drone defense too. So good luck trying to creep up to a laser.
As the article mentions one of the applications will be on sea, where line of sight is total.
And about dodging: a drone has inertia. When a laser attack is detected, it is already too late to dodge. If the drone tries to randomize its trajectory, that will greatly hamper its speed and range. Once the laser has a visual lock on the drone, any dodging attempts will be too slow to matter. Lasers will be particularly effective against drone swarms, due to their quick tracking abilities.
So I really don't see where you gathered all that negativity. Sure new tech will take time to integrate. But it's been clear for a while that laser defense is coming.