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Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

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Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#381

Post by XorNot »

richardwhiuk wrote: post #379
XorNot wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Defensive weapons technology is how you get less conflict though. When some idiot in the ME decides to shoot something at Israel, the character of the response demanded by the population depends heavily on whether any Israelis die or property is destroyed. Israel didn't aggressively bomb Gaza till October 7 killed a lot of Israelis, even though they were regularly shooting down Hamas launched rockets with Iron Dome.…

It’s not clear that’s true. States which don’t fear being attacked are more likely to attack other states

Frankly where's the evidence of this? My country of Australia has no fear of being attacked, yet we haven't launched an endeavor of conquest of South East Asia.'

Real life doesn't break down into simple narratives. The facts in the Middle East are that post-October 7 Israel aggressively bombarded Gaza at a scale and intensity where it did not previously, and a substantial chunk of the population supported that. In particular, it felt compelled to significantly escalate kinetic action against Hamas and Iran where it had not previously.

Post 9/11 the US aggressively invaded 2 sovereign nations it otherwise had little interest in and occupied them for 20 years.

These are all scales and levels of military action which were precipitated by successful attacks that killed civilians. If 9/11 hijackers had been stopped in the planning stage, does the US still invade Afgahnistan? Probably not - it wasn't on anyone's cards. Iraq maybe but the conditions were set by that strike hitting the way it did.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#382

Post by MomsAVoxell »

condensedcrab wrote: post #2

From Rafael’s site: https://www.rafael.co.il/system/iron-beam/ 100kW laser is nothing to joke about, but seems a good application for anti drone tasks. Fiber lasers are pretty snazzy.

Easily defeated with clouds of aluminum chaff?

First wave of drones get targeted, explode into clouds of chaff, second wave of drones penetrates the de-focused laser system.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#383

Post by MomsAVoxell »

bouncycastle wrote: post #330
CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #292

Drone tech will adapt, as it has been in the russia/ukraine conflict. A small, fast, autonomous drone flying between trees and buildings, avoiding obstacles and not flying in a straight line could destroy such an expensive system with very little explosive. Or a cloud of such drones. Or launch your attack on a foggy/rainy day.

drones with mirrors?

First wave of drones explode into clouds of chaff, second wave of drones penetrates the very expensive laser system…

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#384

Post by MomsAVoxell »

bawolff wrote: post #188
andy_ppp wrote: post #121

So will we get drones coated in mirrors and temperature sensors that automatically move them away from these weapons quickly? Or is the laser just too powerful?

Its really hard to make near perfect mirrors that stay perfect in rough conditions. Mirrors arent a reasonable defense to laser weapons outside of scifi.

Clouds of mirror dust.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#385

Post by delichon »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #272
delichon wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not today, but the fertily rate is 2.9 in Israel and 3.9 in Gaza. Even if demographics isn't quite destiny it's generally the way to bet.

Just a reminder pushing people to start wars they can't win is shitty.

To me those stats suggest that the Palestinians have a bigger advantage in making love than war. How do you think they encourage war?

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#386

Post by elcritch »

Amir_A wrote: post #367
timcobb wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Except it is...? Jews were living peacefully in Palestine long before the establishment of a judeo-supremacist apartheid state, to the point you had entire refugee boats of Ashkenazis seeking safe harbor from the holocaust, who ironically became the cornerstone founding population of the Jewish state after the Nakba in 1948 killed and forcefully expelled hundreds of thousands of people (it's the ultimate cautionary t…

Zionist settlement started in the 1870’s on legally purchased land. Most of that land was uninhabited. Tel Aviv was founded on literal sand dunes in 1908 and is Israel’s most populated area. Jaffa was the closest Arab city which is still predominately Arab. Northern Israel become majority Jewish without military force under the Ottomans and then British empires.

However even then there were regular pogroms and killing of Jews by the Arabs as there had been for centuries before.

The British Mandate also turned away ships full of Ashkenazi Jews Holocaust survivors as well.

Don’t forget the nearly 850,000 MENA Jews expelled from across every Arab country after Israel was created.

It’s not nearly as cut and dry as many believe.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#387

Post by cindyllm »

delichon wrote: post #385
Gibbon1 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a reminder pushing people to start wars they can't win is shitty.

To me those stats suggest that the Palestinians have a bigger advantage in making love than war. How do you think they encourage war?

[dead]

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#388

Post by SigmundA »

cogman10 wrote: post #343
FunnyUsername wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that output power of the laser? If it's input power, it doesn't really seem that high. Some US homes could draw 100kW if charging multiple EVs etc.

> Some US homes could draw 100kW if charging multiple EVs No. Most US homes are on 200 or 100A service. 200A tops out at 48kW You won't find many home chargers that are more than 60A.

There is 400 amp residential service you can get 80 amp 19.2 kw level 2 chargers.

You would need 5 80 amp charger to approach 100kw but with other loads in a large house, I have seen large HVAC systems and elaborate pools with lazy rivers etc that can add up very quickly which is why they had 400 amp service.

100kw isn't really that much, a modern EV can put out 3 times that from its battery pack into the motor for short bursts and easily sustain 100kw until drained.

480v 200 amp 3 phase commercial supply can provide 100kw continuous and would be some thing used in a medium sized office building.

Re: Iron Beam: Israel's first operational anti drone laser system

#390

Post by elcritch »

saagarjha wrote: post #331
throw-12-16 wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats a nice calculation, but the reality is that billions of people do not meet those criteria. Life in the developing world is very cheap.

Those billions of people do not live in Israel.

Both sides are right. Life is cheap in many developing nations. My hope is that this tech could help governments in those regions to protect their citizens even when their GDP returns are significantly lower.
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