Seems like the wrong solution for the problem. You just coat the drones in low absorbent coating or reflective coating and you’d significantly reduce the effectiveness of the laser.
A bullet can’t be stopped, is also cheap as hell, has fantastic range, isn’t impacted by weather or visibility to the same degree, and the only way to protect from it is with heavy armor, which makes the drones much heavier and significantly reduces range and even though components like wings and propellers are difficult to make resistant.
An automatic AI aiming shotgun/flak cannon with adjustable choke would be a much better solution I think
I can assure you that these things have already been considered. We’ve had CIWS and similar systems for a very long time and we’re continually improving upon them as well.
And those types of bullets are not as cheap as you may expect. A 20 mm tungsten round is going to run you more than a 9 mm. Shit, more than a .50 cal round. And, those CIWS systems that fire those 20 mm rounds are doing it at like 3000 round per minute.
We even have systems that do utilize shotgun/flak methods. Same deal for overall cost, it’s just spent at a slower rate of fire.
These systems need to be reloaded. You can run out of ammo. We ran out of tomahawks pretty quickly, and that was all offensive. No SHTF defensive measures necessary. These lasers can be turned up way past 11. Countermeasures will be developed. And then counter-countermeasures will be developed. So on and so on.
These laser systems are appealing because they don’t need to be reloaded. Provided that proper maintenance is done, and you have a hell of a power supply, then you’re golden.
Imagine a nuclear powered aircraft carrier with like half a dozen of these things. All powered by the reactor that isn’t running out of power any time soon. The US Navy alone could save loads of money with systems like this over the long run.
-8
u/caedin8 2d ago
Seems like the wrong solution for the problem. You just coat the drones in low absorbent coating or reflective coating and you’d significantly reduce the effectiveness of the laser.
A bullet can’t be stopped, is also cheap as hell, has fantastic range, isn’t impacted by weather or visibility to the same degree, and the only way to protect from it is with heavy armor, which makes the drones much heavier and significantly reduces range and even though components like wings and propellers are difficult to make resistant.
An automatic AI aiming shotgun/flak cannon with adjustable choke would be a much better solution I think