Israel seems to have had a breakthrough

[Zaphod58]

What is the breakthrough being explained?? I been watching Israeli videos  on Laser defense systems for a quarter century now. The targeting is clearly  faster now  with AI. But as we can see just from this 13 year old video, which references programs from as far back as 2000, they been shooting stuff with lasers for over 20 years.

What has been the holdup with actual deployment?? The Turkish army tested a HUMVEE mounted  system in Libya less than ten years ago in actual combat and shot down a drone being flown by UAE assets. Why are these systems not all over modern battlefields already with a quarter century of development under its belt already? I know power source was a big issue in the past, but it seems these systems have being made significantly more energy efficient per shot, especially with the Turks successfully using it in combat from a Hummer in 2017.

[Video: https://youtu.be/diZFrw57bCM]

Lasers, invisibility shields, cameras to see through plastic objects like electronic housings and clothes. Why does it seem like the longer future tech is in the real world, the less we ever actually see it in use??

Because operational testing proves to be harder than expected. Lasers have proven to have issues with long term deployments. They do well in the initial stages of deployment, but as the deployment goes on they have issues cropping up.

[Nerb]

Reflective surfaces are going to, at best, delay burn through. They won’t stop a laser completely.

That's why I was considering what happens to a super-powerful beam that shoots into the atmosphere and beyond. Collateral damage would result from a miss... or unpredictabilitly from a downed but still armed drone before it gets to a target.

And aiming for the body and nose of a drone is aiming at a steadier target than a wing which is more likely to be moving off an axis while manouvering and destroys the chance of any explosive damage regardles of where it falls. Wings can also appear a lot thinner of a target if viewed from certain angles as opposed to the nose or body which has more reliable surface area for a target in any direction.

I would maybe consider the clip as mere "propoganda". Or perhaps label it with your signature.

[Zaphod58]

That's why I was considering what happens to a super-powerful beam that shoots into the atmosphere and beyond. Collateral damage would result from a miss... or unpredictabilitly from a downed but still armed drone before it gets to a target.

And aiming for the body and nose of a drone is aiming at a steadier target than a wing which is more likely to be moving off an axis while manouvering and destroys the chance of any explosive damage regardles of where it falls. Wings can also appear a lot thinner of a target if viewed from certain angles as opposed to the nose or body which has more reliable surface area for a target in any direction.

I would maybe consider the clip as mere "propoganda". Or perhaps label it with your signature.

Aiming at the nose or body is also a much smaller target. Depending on the design, the wings may also hold the fuel tanks, making them more vulnerable, in addition to being a larger target. A ground based laser is almost always going to be looking up at the wings, which makes them a much larger target, easier to hit. As for explosive damage, yes, you are probably going to still see the warhead go off, but you're bringing it down away from any target area, so the impact will be in a more remote area.