Feral Jundi

     Since November 2008, the 3rd ESC has had 64 laser incidents reported in Iraq, resulting in 45 documented injuries to soldiers. Two of those injuries were permanent — one soldier is now legally blind in one eye, Hayes said.

     Both Multi-National Corps—Iraq and 3rd ESC Commander Brig. Gen. Michael Lally are stepping up laser safety and training efforts, including confiscating some unapproved lasers and establishing green laser training requirements and detailed safety accident reporting and training, officials said.

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   These two articles below brought up a couple of interesting points that guys in war zones are going to have to think about in the future and even now.  Having a pair of sunglasses or goggles with laser protective lenses is going to be more important to have, as lasers develop and find their way onto the battlefield in new and interesting ways.  The military is already experiencing laser injuries with  basic laser aiming devices, and I only see that increasing on the military side of things.  But are there statistics on contractor injuries, and is the industry ready for this coming evolutions of battlefield lasers?

   In the first article below, they discuss weaponized lasers and how the DoD wants to purchase Revision eyewear for the troops. We will probably see many offerings of laser protected lenses coming on to the the tactical eyewear scene, as it should.  As for companies issuing this type of protection, who knows.  More than likely it will take numerous injuries before they react and do the right thing.  Or it will take a mandate by the DoD, much like with body armor and helmets, in order to operate on the battlefield. Until then, it will more than likely fall back on the individual contractor to decide if they want to wear the stuff.

   Which leads me to my next point.  Perhaps the laser coating or whatever protective element to the glasses, should become standard for tactical eyewear?  Like under new Milspec standards, ballistics protection would include protection against lasers.  I know this is nothing new and is being talked about in military circles. The military even has a manual on laser range safety.  But that is for laser range finder/pointer stuff, and this new generation of battlefield lasers are just a tad bit more lethal.

   And as the second article on laser injuries indicates, those dazzling green lasers that you see the troops use all the time, are actually causing blindness and eye injuries.  Yikes.  With that said, I wonder how many contractors have been hit with green lasers intentionally or accidently while on the battlefield?  How many guys coming up on check points manned by overzealous guards, were zapped by those things?  Laser protective eyewear should be something to think about.

   With the really big stuff coming on to the scene, the problems I could see, is the accidental reflection maybe?  A large beam hits a car mirror and reflects it onto a convoy or something? Or they bounce a laser off of a satellite reflector or a drone reflector, and now you have ‘death rays’ coming from the sky. lol

    If they get that Boeing 747 with a laser in the nose operational, then they could be throwing beams from that.  On the plus side, these lasers will be much more precise than dropping a bomb, but I wonder if an enemy could use a mirror and use that large beam to their advantage?  Or the enemy could get into making really high powered green or blue lasers, and try to blind soldiers or ignite gas tanks and fuel stations from a distance.  They could also start wildfires with the things, in order to entrap patrols with fire. There are plenty of DIY hacks on youtube in order to make such lasers, and their uses are only limited by their imagination.

   Now another thing I was thinking about, is using these high powered lasers to target individuals. It’s one thing to use them to destroy jets, mortars, rockets, and whatnot in the air.  But to take one dude out, in a group of people, with a well placed laser shot, would be impressive. It would trump using a Hellfire, and taking out entire villages to just get one guy.       I could see bouncing a laser off of a reflector, guided by satellite, and right into the cranium of some Taliban leader who is surrounded by women and children. That would pretty much destroy the enemy’s ability to protect themselves with human shields, or to use collateral damage for propaganda purposes. You could also use the thing to take out IED’s, snipers or machine gun emplacements.  Now that I think about it, I could totally picture a drone circling the battlefield, and using the onboard targeting system to feed into the satellite reflector, and zapping enemy combatants like flies. Who knows, but one thing is for sure, lasers on the battlefield are on the rise and they are just one more thing to think about out there. –Matt

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Ray Guns Real: Army Betting Big on Laser Weapons

Gene J. Koprowski

January 21, 2010

The military envisions a future of laser warfare — ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. It’s only a matter of time until the U.S. Army fights terrorists and other enemy combatants with laser beams, engaging in battles seen previously only in movies like ‘Starship Troopers’ and ‘Star Trek.’

The ray gun is real … or at least it will be soon.

The U.S. Army is betting big on laser warfare — designing, testing and perfecting ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. And given recent developments, it’s only a matter of time until the military has in its arsenal a weapon that until now has been the staple of science fiction — the ray gun.

Set your phasers to kill.

Boeing, one of the Pentagon’s top contractors, already has a laser weapon that will improve the military’s ability to counter artillery, mortar, drone aircraft and even rockets, a spokesman tells FoxNews.

Boeing’s is the highest-profile program of all of the projects under development for the Department of Defense, and last week it took a step closer to reality. At its facility in Huntsville, Ala., Boeing accepted a military truck built by Oshkosh Defense that will carry its laser beam control system into battle.

The device is the cornerstone of a high-priority U.S. Army project, called the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL-TD), touted as the future of American war, which will enable the military to fight at the speed of light.

“The system is technically not in production right now,” says Marc Selinger, a spokesman for Boeing’s missile defense systems unit in suburban Washington, near the Pentagon. “Boeing is building only a demonstrator now … in this case, a test unit.”

That means the project is moving out of the design phase and, with the Oshkosh Heavy Expanded Military Tactical Truck, into production. The eight-wheel, 500-horsepower HEMTT A4, a widely used military tactical vehicle, is being tightly integrated with the Boeing rugged beam control system. Suppliers are already shipping related components to Boeing for assembly.

The weapon will eventually include high-speed processors, optical sensors, and an array of mirrors. Testing of the device’s lethal capacity will begin next fiscal year at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. In addition to the U.S. Army, Boeing is developing its laser technologies for the Air Force and Navy.

A number of new materials enhance the weapon as well, including sapphire substrates for LEDs, semiconductors, and optics. One Chicago-based supplier, Rubicon Technology, provides components made of sapphire for military lasers and sensors.

Lasers are sensitive devices, yet in combat, they will be used in harsh conditions, including sand and wind storms. Sapphire is the second-hardest material on earth, next to diamonds, “yet they can be free of imperfections and perfectly flat,” says Beth Hespe, a spokeswoman for Rubicon. The material helps keep the laser stable — key to its effectiveness as a weapon.

A Brief History of Laser Guns

For decades, the Army has tried — and essentially failed — to develop alternative weapons that target threats before they can reach ground troops. One earlier technology was called the Trophy Active Protection System, which in concept would have fired a shotgun-like blast of pellets at incoming rocket-propelled grenades and antitank missiles.

Scientists now hope that lasers can do what flying metal cannot.

Dissipating the heat laser beams generate is one problem the military has faced in its efforts to weaponize lasers, which new, proprietary technology is overcoming. The technology consists of a laser, a power source and a command and control element. Development of an effective power source — something that could generate enough energy to destroy incoming projectiles — has been another key advancement.

At the most fundamental level, laser weapons are based on the concept of delivering a large amount of stored energy from the weapon to the target, thus producing structural and incendiary damage effects. A directed energy weapon delivers its effect at the speed of light, rather than supersonic or subsonic speeds typical of projectile weapons. The lasers basically obliterate their targets.

Many scientific, military, medical and commercial applications have incorporated lasers since their invention in 1958. When the Apollo astronauts landed on the moon, they planted retroreflector arrays to make possible the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment. Laser beams focused through large telescopes on Earth aimed at the arrays, and scientists measured the time the beam took to reflect to determined distances with high accuracy. Military uses of lasers include applications such as targeting and ranging, defensive countermeasures, communications and directed energy weapons.

The military’s tech at present is focused on larger, truck-mounted laser guns. But as the technology is honed and miniaturized, its easy to imagine a future with handheld versions of the ray guns — just like in the movies.

Uses for Laser Beams

Last March, Northrop Grumman announced that its engineers in Redondo Beach, Calif., had successfully built and tested an electric laser capable of producing a 100-kilowatt ray of light, powerful enough to destroy cruise missiles. An electric laser requires much less space for its supporting equipment than a chemical laser, which is powered by a chemical reaction rather than an electrical power source.

Lasers are also being used in radar and radio applications by the military. “They are also playing a leading role in the development of wideband communications — wideband essentially being a synonym for delivering broadband capability to the battlefield,” said Jon Alhart, a spokesman for military contractor Harris Corp. Using lasers and other technologies, the military can set up broadband networks anywhere radios are conventionally out of range. This is accomplished wirelessly, over-the-air, without the assistance of gateways or other ad-hoc networking technologies.

But America’s enemies are also exploring laser technology, and the U.S. military is preparing for that too.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) disclosed $2.4 million in new funding for Revision Eyewear in Essex Junction, Vt., to make new lenses to protect soldiers against lasers on the battlefield, according to Jonathan Blansay, CEO of Revision.

And last year, Leahy secured another $3 million contract for laser protective eyewear — more than $10 million since 2005, said Blansay.

It’s only a matter of time until lasers form the backbone of many different aspects of military life, not just warfare.

Story here.

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Military sees rise in eye injuries from lasers

By Jennifer H. Svan and Heath Druzin

Sunday, June 14, 2009

A tool that the U.S. military says is saving civilian lives in Iraq and Afghanistan has backfired in the hands of some soldiers, causing temporary — and in at least two cases, permanent — eye damage to fellow troops.

Laser-related eye injuries among U.S. soldiers in Iraq have risen significantly in the last six months, prompting the military to review its use of green lasers.

The lasers, also called “dazzlers,” put out a green light that looks a bit like a sniper rifle laser. They allow soldiers to get the attention of Iraqi drivers, without firing warning shots, at security checkpoints, in military convoys and on vehicle patrols. And if a suspicious vehicle or pedestrian doesn’t stop, the lasers can temporarily blind or disorient, giving soldiers a means of suppression without firing bullets.

Part of soldiers’ “escalation-of-force” kits, green lasers have been used in Iraq for two years, said Lt. Col. David Patterson Jr., spokesman for Multi-National Corps—Iraq.

He said the military is not aware of any injuries to Iraqis. Checks with Baghdad hospitals and human rights campaigners also did not turn up reliable estimates on injuries to civilians.

Nonlethal weapons “help fill the gap between shouting and shooting,” said Kelley Hughes, a spokeswoman for the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate based in Quantico, Va., in an e-mail.

But in recent months, the lasers have been beamed in the eyes of soldiers, either accidentally by another soldier, or in one case through inadvertent self-inflicted exposure, according to Maj. Paul Hayes, 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) spokesman.

Since November 2008, the 3rd ESC has had 64 laser incidents reported in Iraq, resulting in 45 documented injuries to soldiers. Two of those injuries were permanent — one soldier is now legally blind in one eye, Hayes said.

Both Multi-National Corps—Iraq and 3rd ESC Commander Brig. Gen. Michael Lally are stepping up laser safety and training efforts, including confiscating some unapproved lasers and establishing green laser training requirements and detailed safety accident reporting and training, officials said.

Army Capt. Russell Harris, commander of B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 124th Cavalry Regiment, alerted his battalion command in January after observing that some units were using lasers as signaling devices and inadvertently shined lasers in the eyes of soldiers inside their trucks, he said.

“We stopped some convoys, telling them, ‘Hey, you need to be more careful with that laser; you lased our truck,’?” Harris said.

Despite guidelines calling for troops to shine the lasers into car windshields only under dire circumstances, on three recent patrols in Baghdad soldiers did so for seemingly routine traffic control.

Harris has had six soldiers in his unit beamed in “friendly” laser incidents, he said.

“It’s just like being blinded by a bright light,” he said. “Some of the guys complained of headaches.”

The soldiers were treated locally and none suffered lasting damage, Harris said.

Of the two soldiers from elsewhere in 3rd ESC with permanent eye injuries, one was attempting to employ the laser on a fast-approaching vehicle, Hayes said. To avoid exposing his arms above the turret, he shined his laser through a bulletproof window. The beam reflected back in his eye, causing an injury.

The other soldier was “lased” by a convoy entering an installation while the soldier manning an entry control point guard tower, Hayes said.

At least five U.S. troops have been medically evacuated from Iraq since December due to serious eye injuries caused by green lasers, according to U.S. military officials.

Dr. (Maj.) Omaya Youssef, the chief of Ophthamology Services at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, said the hospital has seen anywhere from five to eight laser injuries in the last two years, most due to accidental exposure.

“Usually, the damage is temporary,” he said, “but they have to be evaluated by a retina specialist in the States.”

The green lasers can damage the eye’s photo receptors, which are the cells in the retina that catch light, Youssef said. If damaged, “they leave a small blind spot in your vision” about the size of a quarter, he said.

Such an injury manifests as swelling to the back of the retina and usually can be improved with anti-inflammatory medication for 14 days or longer.

In more severe cases, the retina can burn.

The extent of damage depends on the strength of the laser and the victim’s proximity to it, Youssef said. Viewing the laser through a camera or binoculars can cause even greater injury.

Green laser dazzlers are designed to cause disorientation for about 15 minutes, Youssef said. The whole retina becomes bleached with a green light, that, similar to a bright camera flash, “tends to fade and fade and fade,” the doctor said.

According to the Army, green lasers are manufactured with an output power of several hundred milliwatts, while typical red laser pointers being sold for classroom use are less than 5 milliwatts.

But despite its nonlethal billing, the green laser dazzlers give Human Rights Watch’s senior military analyst reason to worry.

“The distinction between a dazzling laser and a blinding laser remains disconcertingly unclear,” said Marc Garlasco. “We fear that weapons labeled as dazzlers could easily be used to blind intentionally and … will proliferate greatly throughout the world, undermining the ban on blinding lasers.”

An international protocol bans use of blinding lasers.

While Human Rights Watch notes the military has seen some success in reducing casualties in escalation-of-force incidents at checkpoints, “it’s not clear the improvements are solely due to dazzlers,” Garlasco said.

“The potential damage to the eyes may warrant another look at the use of these weapons,” he said. “What about the civilian population who these are made to be used on regularly?”

Human Rights Watch does not keep data on any injuries to Iraqis from lasers, he said.

The military is strict on the use of any laser system, according to an official with B.E. Meyer, the manufacturer of Green Beam Designator III, which is used by the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“They are treated as a weapon, and the military requires extensive training prior to use and operation,” Bruce Westcoat, vice president of business development, said in an e-mail.

The Marines have not reported any injuries, according to Marine Corps spokesman Maj. David Nevers.

This summer, the Marines will begin fielding Green Beam designators with a new safety control module that will automatically reduce the laser’s power or shut it off if someone breaches the 65-meter safe zone.

The Navy will use the same model as the Marines on ships and for deployed sailors downrange, according to Navy officials.

Air Force officials said security forces airmen in Iraq and Afghanistan use the B.E. Meyers Glare MOUT. No security forces airmen have been injured by green lasers, officials said.

Army officials have not responded to repeated requests about the types of lasers are issued to their troops.

Story here.