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The UK says it conducted a 'groundbreaking' trial of a laser beam weapon that can neutralize targets for $0.12 a shot
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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This will be used against drones and missiles. Does make me wonder what the cost per bullet is for militaries though
I know, I know, Quora, but this seems properly researched.
$0.23 for a round of 5.56, $0.76 for a round of 7.62. Ish.
Keep in mind, too, that lasers fire in about as straight a line as you can hope for, while bullets do not. It's going to take a lot more bullets fired to neutralize a target than laser "rounds" fired.
And laser rounds have a velocity of the speed of light, so it's pretty hard to miss if you have a perfect sight on the target
I was thinking about potential for inaccuracy due to refraction from thermal inversion layers or other temperature anomalies, but then I realized that the refraction would equally affect the optics, provided that the optics remain on target throughout the firing.
If I was designing a laser weapons system, I would probably include a targeting laser that would be of the same wavelength, and use that to automatically correct any alignment. A targeting laser, or series of lasers would require extremely tiny amounts of power compared to firing the laser weapon.
In that case, when WW3 hits I guess I’ll use my toilet tank lid for armor
Stylish and protected, nice combo
Yeah... those figures might be outdated. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 5.56 basically the same as a .223? If so Cabellas has them in a price range of $.60-$2.20/pc. Not that the price difference is what I'm correcting. What I intended to point out was that just because you can get ammo for $.23 doesn't mean your actual cost is guna be $.23/pc. In my experience with cheap ammo you're guna have at least 1 jammed per magazine on your best days. Unlike most things, you get what you pay for with ammo. I have 3 types of ammo for my AR. 1 cheap bulk box for making it rain lead at the range. 1 mid ranged box for actual use shooting coyotes, beavers and Coons. And the last ammo type are closer to the $2.20/pc price for when there is ever a scenario where I need to send 2 bullets through the same bullet hole from 500yds out. Lol half kidding but for real the bullet to bullet consistency for weight and concentricity of the $2.20 priced ammo to the .60 priced ammo is clear as day.
Read the link. Those were rough prices for the military, and the poster admits that the prices are a little out of date. He's not referring to what you'd pay at a sporting goods store.
Did you even read my post or did you stop at the 5th word lol.
I read the whole thing about how much ammo costs at retail for an individual consumer.
I can guarantee you're not coming close to the bulk buy per-item discount the military gets
Cruise missiles are usually shot down with interceptor missiles, which are a lot more expensive.