Sailing's future: deterring pirates by laser?



11:58 PM Mon 11 Apr 2011 GMT
'Keep offa my boat!' . Click Here to view large photo
Not many cruising sailors would hazard a journey through the Indian Ocean right now, but the test of a high-energy laser weapon last week off the coast of California could point the way to a future useful deterrent that does not use lethal force or risk the lives of crew. In the test Northrop Grumman's Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD)-a diode-pumped solid-state high-energy laser weapon-successfully demonstrated that it could disable a boat by setting fire to its engines while at sea. The high-energy laser (HEL) was fired from the Navy's self-defense test ship-a former U.S. warship-USS Paul Foster in the Pacific ...


Click here for full story.


by OptoIQ/Sail-World Cruising





Newsfeed supplied by

Live Weather
Nearby
Sydney Airport, NSW
7 kn E
16°
Kurnell, NSW
8 kn ESE
Cronulla, NSW
4 kn ESE
Canterbury, NSW
2 kn E
12°
Little Bay, NSW
8 kn ESE
Bankstown, NSW
4 kn E
15°
Sydney Harbour, NSW
9 kn ESE
17°
Sydney - Observatory Hill, NSW
8 kn ESE
16°
Windiest in Australia
Maatsuyker Island, TAS
30 kn NW
10°
Most Windless in Australia
Gympie, QLD
Calm
15°
Hottest in Australia
Fitzroy Crossing, WA
4 kn SE
35°
Coldest in Australia
Mount Read, TAS
13 kn SSW
Wettest in Australia
Centre Island, NT
12.8 mm