Through its work on behalf of the German government and well-targeted application of its own resources, Rheinmetall has acquired tremendous expertise in this field in recent years. Rheinmetall expects a high-energy laser weapon system with an output of 100 kW to be available within the next three to five years.
This is impressive. Rheinmetall is producing some really awesome military grade laser systems that everyone should be taking notice of. Especially these APC mounted systems. But at what point does it transition from a mild APC with laser to a tank armed with a high-energy laser?
If they can increase the strength of these lasers to 100kW, and especially if Moore’s Law applies to this industry, then why not have a tank that fires a high powered laser? Something that is quiet and will slice an enemy’s tanks/jets in half, or zap a hole in the engine. Or a tank that can shoot miles away on a single human target, and basically vaporize that individual? I could see a lot of uses for a laser.
Which brings up my next point. Why are we not using these laser weapons against humans? Is it more humane to drop a bomb on a target and potentially kill innocent people surrounding that target, or is a laser not the better tool for selectively taking out targets in population centers? This kind of weapon would put the ‘surgical’ into a surgical strike, and in a pretty dramatic star wars kind of way. lol Imagine the look on the faces of a crowd that just watched a bad guy get quietly vaporized by some laser, shot from miles away…
The other cool thing with this system is that their goal is to shoot down UAV’s and mortars/rockets. According to this article and their recent demonstration, they did just that. That is cool and hopefully they will post a video of it. So that asks another question– will we see lasers replacing guns for CRAM duty? Possibly, and the future is now. –Matt
Rheinmetall: successful target engagement with high-energy laser weapons
22/11/2011
Full-scale demonstrator confirms Rheinmetall’s technological lead
Having recently used a high-energy laser weapon to down an unmanned aircraft at a proving ground in Switzerland, Rheinmetall has demonstrated the operational potential of combining a powerful laser weapon with an advanced air defence system. This event provides compelling proof of the Group’s 360° competence in relevant technologies ranging from military lasers and target recognition and identification to target tracking and fire control units – and its unrivalled ability to weld them into a single, forward-looking, fully functional full scale demonstrator. At a live fire laser demo at the Group’s Ochsenboden proving ground, international guests were able to view two laser weapon demonstrators in action, each featuring different performance parameters. For example, a 10-kW laser was integrated into an air defence system consisting of an Oerlikon Skyguard 3 fire control unit and a Skyshield gun turret. Modular and scalable, the laser weapon itself consisted of two 5-kW laser weapon modules. In addition, a 1-kW laser weapon module was displayed, specially mounted on a TM 170-type vehicle for the purpose.