...and then what. What will they do when the rockets get faster, shinier, more erratic in flight...or any of the other things mentioned on this thread? I'm not going to pretend I have the solutions to the Arab Isreali conflict, but this is at best temporary. My best guess is the long term solution (if there is ever one attempted) will be more related to why people are motivated to launch rockets at their neighbours.
Lots of news about Israel today. Amnesty International just released a new report condemning Israel as an apartheid state.[1]
1. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-...
> "If we can intercept a missile or rocket with an electrical pulse that costs a few dollars, we will essentially neutralize the ring of fire that Iran has set up ... This new generation of air defence can also serve our friends in the region, who are also exposed to grave threats from Iran and its proxies.
This is admirable. Instead of playing the typical offense-first arms race, they are in a defense-first technology race. Its non-violent and the technology and skills will benefit the entire country. I hope they eventually win the war just by building a far better country that people want to immigrate into instead of attack.
>This new generation of air defence can also serve our friends in the region, who are also exposed to grave threats from Iran and its proxies.
Interestingly enough this system will be available to all those neighborly enough to join Israel against all the Iranian-backed adversaries. It sounds like sales of technology from the NSO group was a real foot-in-the-door for Israel for forging of new, previously unlikely alliances.
Once you get all these rich petro-states hooked on the products that you can peddle then maybe the overall security situation in that region changes dramatically. For one, it becomes more likely that one of these operators could act unilaterally and thus could kick off a war that no one else wanted when other options were still on the table.
Interesting development overall.
I'm curious where the tipping point is, where the military response exceeds the financial cost of a political response. It's one thing to have tensions simmering on both sides of a border, it's another that one side feels wronged and is lobbing bombs over the fence.
The fact that they're having to develop a laser defense system to defend against lobbed bombs seems like it's time to reevaluate political solutions.
The use of the present tense is factually wrong. TFA says "Within a year already the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will bring into action ..."
Will they start shooting rockets when it gets foggy ouside now?
The last time I saw Israel doing something like this it was an infrared laser, each laser used a massive "chemical reaction battery" to power the laser. But each burst of shots used a big sea container looking battery that churned out some truly hideous chemical waste.
I wonder how they plan on powering this new system.
"If we can intercept a missile or rocket with an electrical pulse that costs a few dollars, we will essentially neutralize the ring of fire that Iran has set up"
This sets up a steampunk scenario where the missile must be controlled by a mechanical gyroscopic guidance system, immune from electrical pulses.
With rockets I'm guessing that thermal signatures are used to home in on the projectile being destroyed. But I'm wondering what's being used here to keep the laser locked onto the target projectile. It's definitely an impressive technological feat.
Is there a consensus on whether a nuclear missile shield would be feasible, regardless the technology?
Basically, if the US invested 1% of the GDP into developing a missile shield, could it achieve let's say a 98% success rate against incoming missiles?
That would suggest they’ve made a significant breakthrough. Especially that comment about a couple dollars.
From what I can tell all the existing tech is still reasonably niche and expensive.
Could you make the missile really really shiny so that it reflects the laser away?
The space lasers were real /s
(in reference to the Republican congresswoman who blamed the California wildfires on Jewish space lasers: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/marjorie-taylor-gree...)
This tech will be the end of MAD and the start of WW3. The only thing holding back current super powers from direct confrontation are ICBMs and MAD. Once they can be reliably shot down via lasers, then full scale war is much more likely. I understand the current tech is for much slower, much lower rockets and cruise missiles. But the tech will evolve and get better. Israel is the current test bed for high tech defense, so expect further improvements over the next decade. We have seen a century of relative peace, enjoy it while it lasts.
8 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27173138
This will do great work for their apartheid state!
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/israels-apart...
Note Israeli PM Bennet is currently facing a lot of media and public attention to large price hikes of different consumer goods, electricity and gasoline. Just saying.
(PS - Also, scrutiny about Israeli soldiers having bound and gagged an 80-yro Palestinian man, leaving him on the floor in some abandoned building after having stopped him in an illegal roadblock, with him eventually dying. Israelis wouldn't need a distraction from that kind of stuff happening, though; we/they are already trained to filter that out.)
I will believe it when I see it. Focusing that much light on a small moving object, through layered and moving air, with an intensity to burn through metal would be an achievement. Burning through enough of that metal to degrade a falling rocket (as opposed to during boost phase of flight) is even harder. For all the talk about cost reduction, have a look at what realworld laser armor costs. Painting the nosecone of a rocket white, or coating it with reflective foil costs next to nothing but is remarkably effective.
Better question: What would this do to a manned aircraft? There is a reason there are treaties against blinding weapons.