can the air forces ABL be used to destroy ground troops?

Question

if you dont know what the ABL is hears some info..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_Laser#Use_against_other_targets

Answer 1

In theory, yes. but it's not very practical for that application.

Lasers are coherent beams of light. That means that the wavelength of the light in the beam is mono-chromatic, and the the waves are syncronized. The beam emitted by a laser is narrow, and does not spread, as do those of, say, a flashlight.

So bAasically, you would have to target individual soldiers, and leave the beam on each for a second or two. That makes the ABL a very sophisticated, and very expensive sniper rifle.

Seems like a lot of trouble to go to when you could use relatively inexpensive GPS guided conventional munitions to take out men and machines over a large area.

Answer 2

The article cited states

Effective use against ground targets seems very unlikely. Aside from the difficulty of acquiring and tracking a ground target, firing downward through the dense atmosphere would significantly weaken the beam. Also, most ground targets are not fragile enough to damage with a megawatt-class laser.

My guess is that it has the potential to blind a man on the ground but I don't think it would do much else. The heating effect would not be injurious unless you chose to remain still when you felt a hot spot. Which I kind of doubt

Answer 3

Not if the troops are moving under heavy cloud cover or smoke. Read the article you posted a link for.

Answer 4

I never knew this existed. Thanks for the link.

Knowing the military, they have so many weapons geared towards humans I'm going to guess this particular weapon would be too expensive to "waste" on ground pounders.

Answer 5

If Wikipedia says so, it must be true.