The US Army's formerly bulky laser weapon, Locust, is now a mobile drone-killer

[BadThad]

This is fantastic news! GO USA! I really like defensive weapons, they are my favorite.

However, it seems like every month we inch closer to Skynet. Drones & AI flying or "assisting" them, scary AF to to me. Russia is battling a kind of Skynet now. Ukraine drone tech is amazing and the biggest reason they've held Russia back this long from rolling the whole country.

Youtube has banned the videos now (I think) - but Russia coming in old school with tanks and boots on the ground has proven to be tactical mistake. There are hundreds of videos on the web showing Ukraine drones killing tanks, armored vehicles and ground personnel and a lot of Russians and North Koreans. If you missed the NK soldiers and the first time they ever encountered Ukrainian drones - it is SCARY AF people. They had no idea what was coming or what it was about to do to them. The look of surprise, confusion, then horror on their faces really made me feel sorry for them.

So, the moral of the story - we have to be careful what we wish for with all this new tech! AI may decide someday that we are the threat.

 

[BadThad]

Despite the US being so "evil", we didnt just level the capital, or slowly march with artillery to cause massive civilian casualties. The "Good" world was perfectly OK with a tyrant starving his people for decades while decrying us for doing something about him. That's quite a hypocritic moral compass.

The TDS infected berate him for the success in Venezuela. And yet they fail to ask how the people of Venezuela how they feel today. Check out some youtubers in the streets of Venezuela - you can see with your OWN EYES and hear with your OWN EARS how happy the people are!

 

[Underdog]

The Locust is just a prototype. The real test will be when the US/NATO sends them into Ukraine. The big problem with mobile lasers is that they have to be very close to the action, and will need to move fast to avoid return attacks. That makes them uniquely vulnerable. I suspect the Russians/Chinese already have a counter to mobile laser platforms. Probably a high speed armored drone that automatically locks onto moving vehicles.

The US won't be sending them to Ukraine. That would upset Trump's pal in Moscow.

 

[Underdog]

The TDS infected berate him for the success in Venezuela. And yet they fail to ask how the people of Venezuela how they feel today. Check out some youtubers in the streets of Venezuela - you can see with your OWN EYES and hear with your OWN EARS how happy the people are!

And ask them a few days from now when they realise nothing is changed. The US has removed Maduro, not the regime. Who takes his place?
The American playbook. Go in, take out their target, then leg it without any idea what or who will fill the void. Iraq, Afghanistan, and all the way back to the 60s just the same scenario.

 

[jeffbert]

More political posts than tech ones, especially those relevant to the topic.

Whether LASERs or other tech, eventually a counter tech will usually be developed. Otherwise we would still be using longbows.

 

[GrayDragon]

I wonder if they have been testing this in Ukraine against Russian drones, would seem like an obvious use for this.