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actual submarine part: https://youtu.be/RXXMJAU6vY8
the leadup and context surrounding the exercise: https://youtu.be/5d6SEQQbwtU
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…
https://www.laserpointerpro.com/attribute/class_class-iiib-l...
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…
When we consider the design characteristics of those older boats we can truly appreciate how much knowledge we had to build from scratch and glean from failure in order to get where we are today.
Do note that blinding an enemy soldier is considered a really serious war crime by international law. You can kill them outright, not a crime. But you cannot blind them, including using a laser in this manner. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_W...
article mentions it as well. the lasers used in this article follow int'l law
Do note that blinding an enemy soldier is considered a really serious war crime by international law. You can kill them outright, not a crime. But you cannot blind them, including using a laser in this manner. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_W...
> The main idea behind the system is that it modulates its output based its range to the target via using an internal laser range-finder. Thus the maximum eye-safe setting can be used throughout the engagement. This is also important because international law prohibits the employment of any such system that is deliberately designed to cause permanent blindness.
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…
Based on my reading of the article this laser weapon doesn't (maybe even is not capable of without modification?) cause permanent blindness.
It's much more likely that the US simply refused to sign that treaty just like they refused to sign treaties about other horrors like land mines or chemical weapons.
Do note that blinding an enemy soldier is considered a really serious war crime by international law. You can kill them outright, not a crime. But you cannot blind them, including using a laser in this manner. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_W...
Non-lethal optical distracters are visible laser devices that have reversible optical effects on human targets. These types of non-blinding laser devices use highly directional optical energy to support several non-lethal capabilities, including: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.
WORF: Captain, they are now locking lasers on us. RIKER: Lasers ??? PICARD: Lasers ???
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…