Pirates! They’re everywhere, huh? On the high seas, in the theatres, on the Internet. The ocean-dwelling ones better watch out though, pun totally intended, because a new non-lethal laser weapon aims to blind them into thinking twice about that booty.
The new weapon is very much what it sounds like: An adjustable, low intensity laser that—at a distance of about 1,500 metres—will make it seem as though the target is looking directly into the Sun. Only a brief, accidental look into it, though, as looking into the Sun is actually quite dangerous!
And should the pirates try and defend against the laser with, say, a pair of Oakleys, they’ll still be blinded:
“Sunglasses wouldn’t help,” [said BAE Systems rep Bryan Hore, whose firm invented the laser weapon, in an interview with New Scientist]… In fact, wearing them would only exacerbate the effect. That’s because the glasses would not affect the green laser light – chosen because that colour is particularly irritating – but the laser would appear even brighter contrasted against the darkened background.
Better still, the laser beam is a full meter wide, meaning it can target entire pirate crews as they scream toward cargo ships in their tiny, well-armed dinghies. Even at greater distances the laser will serve as a warning beacon for pirates, letting them know what awaits them on that particular ship should they decide to tread closer. [New Scientist]
lem_is_cool
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 8:48 AMPirates could get their own laser, or perhaps just a giant mirror,
Tom Reynolds
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 12:03 PM@lem_is_cool or frickin sharks with lasers on them.
James Mac
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 1:10 PMSee, me… I’d be employing the most lethal method I could.
Harry
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 1:15 PMor the pirates could use sharks with frikin’ laser beams attached to their heads.
Iain Graham
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 2:03 PMFiltered glasses are extremely cheap.
$10 on eBay and they’re up and running again. It’s a good idea, though.
stevjosco
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 3:50 PMThere’s no way I’d trust my eyesight to a 10 buck pair of glasses from an ebay seller.
stevjosco
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 3:49 PMBlinding with lasers is not a new weapon. Some fighter pilots wear an eye patch so that only one eye is blinded when a laser beam is used as a blinding weapon (or they happen to look directly into the flash from a nuclear blast) they can still find their way home by removing the eye patch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyepatch#Pilots
And we all know pirates wear eye patches ;)
Mr Mack
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 4:16 PMIs ‘pew pew’ the standard tag for anything laser related? =P
ozoneocean
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 2:10 AMCargoes worth several million… and they hardly ever bother employing armed guards. It’s funny that. They do sometimes, but it’s rare. You’d think Blackwater would be making a mint here (whatever they’re called now).
I suspect that part of the time it’s just an easy way to get money out of the insurance brokers, seeing as most of the ransom money goes through banks in Europe and Dubai and the stupid ex fisherman “pirates” only get a measly 10 grand each. Laser devices like this are the equivalent of an immobiliser on your car- it’ll still get stolen but the insurers require it.
Steve
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 7:13 PMI love all these whacky, expensive and impractical ideas at combating pirates who are essentially Somalian teens with AKs.
David T
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 3:03 PMPirates – once identified just blast them out of the water – The very nature of Piracy is that the perpetuator have abrogated all respect and all claim to the rule of law as we should treat them exactly as they deserve. Zap.