Combat lasers: Can focused light protect Ships? Tanks? Airplanes? And ultimately countries? From enemy weapons? And Should Defensive Weapons Follow Humans into Space?

Me, "You don't have to be a genius to see the cost savings of using focused light to defend a country from attack. Where as a missile or bombs costs millions of dollars to use and you have to rebuild another, a laser is a weapon that just needs a good supply of energy to keep it shooting. It could be placed on a tank, an airplane, a large ship or out in space on a missile defense system. The problem has been can it be pumped up for combat and the latest from the UK is that they are officially awarding a contract to find out. A demonstration would come in 2019 and the first laser weapon would come into use in the 2020's. I don't see Laser weapons as a threat to the status quo because a lot of countries are testing all kinds of weapons that either don't pan out or are just used to ward off attack. Laser weapons will just be a new weapon in a country's defensive/offensive arsenal. 

As the movie Star Wars show, lasers can have a unique military use, and as Star Trek shows, even a ship of peace needs weapons for protection. 

Which is another reason why I believe Space will one day have weapons in it. 

I am not a warmonger. If done right, no one ever has to fear weapons in space. On a day to day operation, you probably would not even know they are there. 

They would be like nuclear missiles, hidden underground like on Earth but in a Moon or Mars base or inside a ship only, to be used for defense. How many people have seen Navy ships and Submarines and thought, eww... evil? Probably not because the ships do not tip over the line with an aggressive look, yet, they are floating weapons. The same can be done for space.

We put weapons on Land, in the Air, on the Sea, in the Sea, and Space is no different. We will need weapons in space to protect Earth from collision from asteroids; weapons in space to protect our future space colonies from one and other; weapons in space to protect countries here on Earth, because you never know what could institute trouble.  And, of course, however unlikely, weapons in space in case aliens ever attack. We are going to need something to stop them too. We humans are advanced thinking life, but we have our skirmishes. How do we know, if aliens exist, they aren't the same way?

The best offense is the best defense and Laser weapons are the most cost effective weapons for defense."     

From article, "UK building $38 million combat laser prototype by 2019 and field lasers in mid-2020s"
The UK Ministry of Defence has officially awarded a £30m (US$38 million) contract to produce a prototype laser weapon. The aim is to see whether "directed energy" technology could benefit the armed forces, and is to culminate in a demonstration of the system in 2019. If the demonstration is successful, the first laser weapons could come into service in the mid-2020s.

This would be a delay from previous targets of 2017 land based combat lasers and 2019 for the UK navy

The contract was picked up by a consortium of European defense firms.

The prototype will be assessed on how it picks up and tracks targets at different distances and in varied weather conditions over land and water.

The demonstrator was not being developed to counter any specific threat, but to assess whether such weaponry could be delivered as a capability for the armed forces.

But in general, directed energy weapons could potentially be used to destroy drone aircraft, missiles, mortars, roadside bombs and a host of other threats.

The US military has been experimenting with high energy lasers for decades. But, until recently, technical hurdles had prevented them from being used on the frontline.

However, the US Navy fielded a laser weapon system called Laws for testing on the USS Ponce during a deployment to the Gulf starting in 2014.)


Me, "Not only is the UK looking into Laser weapons but the U.S. Air Force is too."



Another article on Laser weapons, "Air Force getting bids for defensive lasers on fighter jets"

(The US Air Force (USAF) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) related to its efforts to field a laser-based self-protection system for its tactical combat aircraft.

The laser will be housed in a supersonic flight-capable pod to be developed under the Laser Pod Research and Development (LPRD) contract.

The RFP, posted by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Directed Energy Directorate, Laser Division (AFRL/RDL) on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website on 5 January, seeks research proposals for the service's Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments (LANCE) project, which is geared at integrating a defensive laser weapon aboard current and future fighter-sized aircraft.)