NAVY U.S. EQUIP LASER CANNONS

NAVY U.S. EQUIP LASER CANNONS

Representatives of the Navy (US Navy) announced that in the near future they will acquire the most promising weapons including a powerful laser cannon and an electromagnetic railgun.

Laser will be deployed on one of the Navy ships at the end of 2014, and a prototype railgun already tested and are planning to install over the next two years.

As representatives of the organization, the decision is due, primarily, with the economy weapons. Compared with missiles and bombs, both technologies are inexpensive and can be shooting almost continuously.
Besides the low cost, emphasis is also placed on ease of use: laser, which is deployed on a warship USS Ponce, can be controlled by only one not too experienced sailor. Laser weapon system designed to eliminate the so-called "asymmetric threats" - for example, air drones complexes speedboats and other potential threats to the warships in the Persian Gulf, where there is a USS Ponce and other vessels.

With regard to the railgun, it already tested on the ground in Virginia. He has demonstrated the ability to produce missiles with a speed of six to seven times the sound, which is enough to cause serious damage.
"However, both systems have some drawbacks. Lasers, for example, lose their effectiveness in rainy and dusty weather, and also because of the turbulence in the atmosphere. Railgun also requires huge amounts of energy to run a shell" - said Loren Thompson (Loren Thompson ), a military analyst at the Lexington Institute.

Rumor has it that the Navy United States found a way to overcome the problem of bad weather, but it is not universal at high cloud and heavy rain laser will continue to lose productivity. Problem with energy for as long as the railgun can not solve.