Gun Grape, its still the size of a caravan and again the limiting issue will be the number of 'shots' before the capacitors are fully discharged. I suppose something similar could be deployed for static defense situations - say a static Brigade HQ or similar athough even then you would probably need several units placed around the base perimeter for effective coverage. In that kind of scenario you would at least have access the kind of generator capacity you need for relativly rapid recharge. Still I cant see mobile battalions or companies towing something like that around with them for a while yet.
The Rheinmetall approach is based around providing an additional armament option for its Skyguard / Skyshield / Mantis base defense range of products. Static defense for ground targets that is. The mobile variants presented (Boxer and M113 in particular) can be seen primarily in a context of CIED/route security and engineer purposes.
Rheinmetall is supposedly working on naval laser-based weapons too.
MLG27 gun with a 5kW laser module add-on tested. MLG27 is tracked manually by joystick from a console, the laser carrier module independently tracks the target optronically within its field of view for higher precision. The system retains the 27mm gun, and hence is touted as the first dual-gun/laser weapon system.Originally Posted by kato
They're now working on a technology demonstrator for a MANTIS-derived static base defense system that includes both 35mm AHEAD turrets and 60 kW laser turrets.
Official 10-minute advertising video for Rheinmetall HEL:
Features the October 2013 setup from post 11 as well as presenting earlier demos. And plenty of "gun camera" as well as "target camera" footage.
And now also tested with a 10kW laser, both against aerial and surface targets and in ship-to-shore use.
I like the approach Rhinemetall is taking with multiple lower powered lasers that converge on a target. It probably isn't strictly necessary at the moment, but as lasers climb in power they will start running into laser-induced air breakdown. In which case everyone will have to move to using multiple lasers or find some other way around the issue.
Iran has their own drones now, and enough have been salvaged by the Taliban to probably have a whole air force. The tech is out and in the possession of the bad guys, time to batten down the hatches. Check out Daniel Suarez's novel 'Kill Decision', it's pretty good.
Hey Sieneskil, go introduce yourself in the Introductions thread.
http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sho...61571&page=128
Iran/Taliban very well may have examples of US drone tech, but they don't have the infrastructure to reproduce it or even make use it for that matter. US drones are controlled via constellations of both GPS and communications satellites, which allows them to operate anywhere in the world while being flown by guys in Nevada.
Iran only just launched it's first 27kg satellite into 300km Low Earth Orbit in 2009. Building a constellation of GPS satellites requires the ability to launch 2000kg satellites up to orbits of 20,000km. Iran is nowhere near having the kind of infrastructure in place to utilize US drone tech even if brand new MQ-9 Reapers were given to them.
Iran does have drones, but they are all controlled via ground station, which limits their range to Iran's immediate neighborhood.
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