Laser canon set to blind pirates

[Stoney3K]

Whereas something as simple as the now common circularly polarized sun glasses can defeat the single wavelength laser.

Steve

Which is only possible because the only property that makes it 'safe' and legal to use is also the property that renders it useless. Because the irradiance is lowered to such an extent, it's easy to defeat by simple means.

If a pair of sunglasses works for glare from the sun, it will also do exactly what it was designed for (prevent glare) if it happens to be a laser with the same intensity.

Also, a laser is easily deflected somewhere else by means of a mirror.

I wonder how those sonic devices hold up against reflective surfaces, as they are in the high-frequency range (because of their directivity), it also means they can bounce off any flat surface.

[dnar]

I'm not advocating the use of nuclear weapons to solve a conflict like this, mind you. I'm just pointing out that even in war, you can't just do whatever you feel like doing, even if you are a nation state (or a world superpower, for that matter).

Adam

War crimes happen. Fact. On every side.

[White-Light]

I doubt it. If they're so poor that they have to resort to piracy, do you really think they'll be able to afford laser goggles? What makes you think they'll even know which goggles to buy? Sure, you and I understand the problem, but the average Somalian pirate is not a laser expert...

Adam

You're joking aren't you Adam?

I watched a programme recently on the amounts they're charging to release ships, its in the tens of millions of pounds and most of these pirates are repeat offenders. They're living the life of luxury in a very poor country but with the latest high tech gear.

I doubt a pair of laser goggles is going to be a problem to a multi-millionaire.

[White-Light]

There's a 2 year old report here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7650415.stm

According to the programme I watched the demands are now in excess of 10 million and rising all of the time.

[DanG]

We did some work on this project and abandoned our involvement because there were technical issues that I didn't want to get into and legal issues that I didn't want to get into even less like who has jurisdiction over international waters (eg. does the Geneva Convention even apply to privately owned vessels, etc.)

However, I think it is spot on correct honestly that the pirates will just buy googles. These guys can actually get pretty sophisticated and certainly could get the necessary eyewear off of eBay. That cracks me up... a $20M ultra-complicated deployment thwarted by a $10 pair of laser glasses. And if they really ran into trouble they could just have them shipped from Yemen.

Our concern is that they would learn after the first time and just look away or use their hands to shield their eyes until they were too close for the angle of the system to reach them.

[dnar]

If they are smart, they would simply mount mirrors on their boats.

Shit, if they mounted a few dozen DT40's they could have some cool beam action fun while at it!

[dsli_jon]

War crimes happen. Fact. On every side.

Indeed. http://funwithwarcrimes.com/ ...if-only that whole Admins'-legacy really had-been just a 'joke'... Oi, what a mess they made...

peas
j

[mixedgas]

[quote/]

I wonder how those sonic devices hold up against reflective surfaces, as they are in the high-frequency range (because of their directivity), it also means they can bounce off any flat surface.[/QUOTE]

. I'd love to have a discussion about this but I can't. Suffice it to say what you think of as a "LRAD" is old technology and in many cases ineffective compared to the newer ones.

Steve