Footage circulating in Russian pro-military channels this week shows what is claimed to be a Russian laser weapon system engaging aerial drones, according to a Russian military blogger who described the video as an "exclusive." The blogger's post claimed several
  • ITGuyLevi@programming.dev
    1·
    3 hours ago

    So you spend $10k+ (totally just a WAG) in energy costs to take down a $200 drone, I suppose it works but I don’t think Russia can keep it powered long enough to be effective against swarms of drones.

      • ITGuyLevi@programming.dev
        2·
        1 hour ago

        Not always, it was half based on the 30KW ‘Silent Hunter’ they bought from China. While it is a really cool idea, that one used close to 100kW just to produce the 30kW beam. It requires more than that to operate the chillers and pumps that must be ran to keep the whole system from overheating.

        I would have to make the asumption that they upped the power significantly as Silent Hunter was only capable of 4,000 meter max range (the ‘killzone’ is only listed as 1500 meters), if they upped the power all of the requirements go up. If they managed to up the power too much, it’s going to cause grid power dips that will thankfully bring down their other systems that depend on it.