Raytheon High-Energy Laser

Re:Raytheon High-Energy Laser by missedthecue on Monday February 13, 2023 @01:44AM (#34770827)

I wonder what the countermeasures to these will be. To construct your drones and missiles out of highly reflective mirrors?

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Re:Raytheon High-Energy Laser by Grimburger on Monday February 13, 2023 @02:36AM (#34771067)

Others mentioned reflective shielding above but ablative coverings seem to work much better.

For lightweight applications like drones I would hazard a guess that specifically engineered aerogels would do well.

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Re:Raytheon High-Energy Laser by moring on Monday February 13, 2023 @03:35AM (#34771386)

Wouldn't aerogels let almost all of the laser's energy through?

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Re:Raytheon High-Energy Laser by azernik on Monday February 13, 2023 @05:38AM (#34772032)

The aerogels would be thermal insulators under an opaque coating.

My Children of a Dead Earth favorite is a thin layer of something reflective for short-burst thermal reflection, under that something that can take high temperatures like carbon-carbon for sustained lasers, and then a big slab of aerogel to keep that heat off of the more delicate bits.

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Re:Raytheon High-Energy Laser by ySteeK on Monday February 13, 2023 @01:50AM (#34770847)

Maybe retroreflectors?

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