I'm aware how terrible this will sound, but is there any reason why lasers are not already commonly used against infantry?
I mean, you could just sweep the enemy fortifications periodically, and, well, inflict terrible harm by blinding.
I mean, you could just sweep the enemy fortifications periodically, and, well, inflict terrible harm by blinding.
The other reason is that lasers are big and expensive. This laser is mounted on Stryker armored vehicle and probably costs a ton. Bullets and guns are cheap. The regular Stryker carries 50cal machine gun which is overkill for shooting people.
People and bullets are fine for hitting people. Enough that there hasn't been much work in automated targeting. The laser has faster targetting and more accuracy which is good for drones.
Incidentally, no, what Russia is doing in Ukraine is not even anywhere remotely close to a "proper" war.
For example, they deployed gas that makes people vomit so soldiers can't keep masks on, followed by gas that dissolves the lungs so they suffocate on their own blood. Stuff that makes dying by conventional means merciful.
You don't plan for everything going well (no one ever goes for war). You plan for when things don't.
https://acoup.blog/2020/03/20/collections-why-dont-we-use-ch...
Lasers also don't travel through smoke as well as lead does.
Imagine being outflanked because your vehicles are out of fuel because you used it all powering the generators for your lasers that can’t touch infantry inside a blacked out Landcruiser.
Also, expect that if said infantry finds you, you're gonna have a bad time.
Complication: if you got hit with this, or even saw something far away being hit with this, chances are it would be the last thing you'll ever see, making finding something to hide behind that much more difficult.
Anti-infantry lasers will likely continue to be banned for a while, but as anti-air and anti-armor ones get introduced, the risk of soldiers getting blinded off beam scatter will rise fast, so laser safety goggles might just become standard issue.
Or not. The problem is that laser safety goggles and screens are built to be opaque to specific frequencies. There may not be a way to have the goggles protect you from every laser frequency you're likely to encounter on the battlefield.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Wea...
This UN thing is about the kind of lasers pranksters use to temporarily blind airline pilots.
Pretense is certainly the key concept when it comes to the UN and people who eagerly cite it. Nuts to the UN.
I think that these lasers have not been used for this purpose yet is because of the inherent human psychological aversion to eye damage and the potential for escalation.