Chinese Miltary Lasers

There is another crop of laser stories in the news cycle today, and I think many people who read them have no idea what a military laser really is.  There is a good May article on China's military lasers in the South China Morning Post, and they are not the kind of lasers kids use to flash in the eyes of airline pilots, a weird pass-time that they should think about before doing.

The Chinese have come up with a set of lasers that are supposed to destroy drones, small aircraft and helicopters.  These are good size lasers and cannot be carried in your pocket.  You would have to put the on a trailer and haul them around with your SUV - they are that big.  The last few lines of that article says a lot about how these lasers are going to be used, "China has also developed several types of low-power laser guns, which are used to dazzle or blind the enemy from a short range, or to damage the enemy’s night-vision devices. Four types of laser guns – the BBQ-905 Laser Dazzler Weapon, the WJG-2002 Laser Gun, the PY132A Blinding Laser Weapon and the PY131A Blinding Laser Weapon – were revealed in a report by state-run Global Times in 2015."

I'm sure the Chinese must know that two can play at this game.  There are several weapons shown on the Internet that come from the US arsenal, and the Chinese versions look almost exactly like the ones shown last year.  You can do the comparison yourself by looking at the Post article and the YouTube video, the year before, as one example.  No doubt about where the Chinese got theirs.  The difference is, the Chinese are actually using the ones they have to target our aircraft.  Apparently, they are good for something, though I am skeptical of both sides saying how effective these weapons are.  In one of my previous books, I recounted the story of the Airborne Laser, an aircraft-mounted laser.  When one of our senior officials at Ballistic Missile Defense was asked how well it performed, she said "The only way that will hit the target is if the pilot flies into it."  Of course, a lot can happen in the 20 years since....