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Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

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Re: Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

#2

Post by supernova87a »

Two side observations unrelated to the laser rifle:

1) It's surprising or kind of amusing that such a huge and complex submarine uses plain old Raytheon / Raymarine radar when operating in harbor, etc. as if were just a little sailboat. But whatever works and is effective! I wonder how it has to be dismantled and put up, taken down each time? Perhaps it's mostly for being visible to other ships/monitoring stations? I recalled hearing that a sub is never in such places without accompanying surface fleet/tugs/etc anyway.

2) Looking at the periscope mast, the amount of technological sophistication in that thing must be incredible. The amount of communications (radio, laser, metallurgy, stealth coatings, etc) gadgetry there I'm sure would boggle the mind. Yet it all goes to the theme -- here is a boat worth many billions of $ and the pinnacle of US military sophistication, being put into the hands and trust of mostly 20-something young sailors, and mostly without incident. Truly amazing that we're able to do that.

Re: Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

#3

Post by dmoy »

So the clarification (easily determined from the subtitle, as well as the article body), is that this is a dazzler meant to temporarily blind or distract.

It's not a sci fi laser rifle that cuts things. This is very different from star wars (the missile defense program), or star wars (the movie).

The US Navy does have things closer to that:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a326766...

But they're huge, and still don't really do much.

Re: Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

#4

Post by newacct583 »

FWIW: these have been reported to be in active use against the Portland protesters. It's so frustrating that HN chooses the gadget puff piece to push to the top of the front page instead of the actual deployed weapons.

Most especially because the much-lower-power pocket laser pointers have been cited by the white house directly as having "permanently blinded" federal agents. (Consumer red/green lasers are extraordinarily unlikely to cause permanent blindness, that's why they're available to consumers. You'd have to hold them on the same spot in your retina for minutes to kill cells thermally, the frequency won't do it alone.)

Edit: yes, folks, I'm talking about laser pointers. Obviously these things are poorly regulated and folks can get all kinds of crazy dangerous things online. There's zero evidence that any of them are in use by protesters in Portland. There's some shots of kids with clicky pointers.

Re: Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

#5

Post by hajile »

There's a reason this kind of thing is against the rules of war.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Certain_Conven...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_W...

These conventions don't matter unless they're actually enforced. For example, gas shells were banned 16 years before their use in WW1 by the very countries using them. Lots of victims lived horrible lives of suffering or killed themselves as a result of their use.

Re: Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

#6

Post by hprotagonist »

newacct583 wrote: post #4

FWIW: these have been reported to be in active use against the Portland protesters. It's so frustrating that HN chooses the gadget puff piece to push to the top of the front page instead of the actual deployed weapons. Most especially because the much-lower-power pocket laser pointers have been cited by the white house directly as having "permanently blinded" federal agents. (Consumer red/green lasers are extraordina…

see also LRADs :(

Re: Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

#7

Post by jacksonpollock »

dmoy wrote: post #3

So the clarification (easily determined from the subtitle, as well as the article body), is that this is a dazzler meant to temporarily blind or distract. It's not a sci fi laser rifle that cuts things. This is very different from star wars (the missile defense program), or star wars (the movie). The US Navy does have things closer to that: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a326766... But they're h…

It sounds like it is more of a warning "you are in our way" device? "For long-distance hail and warning, especially during maritime security, the GLARE® LA-9/P combines a powerful green beam with Eye Safe® technology. The laser rapidly determines if an unintended observer is within the nominal ocular hazard distance (NOHD) and immediately shuts off the glaring output to prevent accidental eye injury. Once the bystander has moved out of the NOHD, the laser output instantly resumes."

Re: Sailor pictured with laser rifle on board USS Minnesota nuclear sub

#9

Post by 14 »

I couldn’t help but think Star Trek when they talked about the laser modulating it’s power based on range of target and shutting down if someone accidentally crosses it’s path. They are not allowed to intentionally permanently blind people. Set phasers to stun is what I thought of. It would be nice if we could have a world without lethal weapons.
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