Laser Weapons Might Protect U.S. Copters From Next Attack

With a little more time and a little more technology, there’s a chance, maybe, that the tragic shootdown of an American helicopter in Afghanistan could have been stopped. Thirty eight lives might’ve been saved, if two existing Army systems had been packaged into one.

Military researchers are looking to combine an acoustic gunshot detector with a dazzling laser that will startle shooters who take aim at American helos.

The Pentagon has spent decades trying to protect its helicopters, of course. But the irony at the core of that effort is that smart weapons are often easier to stop than dumb ones. Fire the latest guided missile at a U.S. copter, and the aircraft has all kinds of ways of keeping the weapon away: flares, chaff, infrared-flashing decoys, even lasers that fool the missile’s guidance system. But shoot off an old-school rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) or an improvised rocket, and the helicopter is vulnerable. There’s no guidance system to fool.

Read More: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/lasers-save-u-s-copters/