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<blockquote data-quote="tarchon" data-source="post: 1728799" data-attributes="member: 5990">I actually work in the field, so my guesses have some substantial basis.&nbsp; A &quot;critical reader&quot; would understand that a press release conventionally doesn't contain a lot of technical details, many of which are either proprietary or classified to begin with.&nbsp; I happen to know that steering a laser beam and tracking a mortar with radar are much easier to do than precisely directing a mortar into the beam of a pulsed laser, so I ASSUME that they probably did the easiest thing, it being a bench test and all.&nbsp; Really, this is mostly a &quot;feel good&quot; test IMO - all the components are known to be workable anyway.&nbsp; Now a truly critical view of this technology looks not at the sensing system but at the semi-tractor trailer that carries the apparatus around.&nbsp; They won't be putting this in a backpack anytime soon.If you really must know exactly how they did the tracking, rather than complain about what uncritical dufuses we are, I would suggest you google MTHEL and find <a href="http://www.st.northropgrumman.com/media/SiteFiles/mediagallery/factsheet/SPIE_Manuscript_Tactical_high-energy_laser.pdf" target="_blank">relevant papers</a>.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tarchon, post: 1728799, member: 5990"] I actually work in the field, so my guesses have some substantial basis. A "critical reader" would understand that a press release conventionally doesn't contain a lot of technical details, many of which are either proprietary or classified to begin with. I happen to know that steering a laser beam and tracking a mortar with radar are much easier to do than precisely directing a mortar into the beam of a pulsed laser, so I ASSUME that they probably did the easiest thing, it being a bench test and all. Really, this is mostly a "feel good" test IMO - all the components are known to be workable anyway. Now a truly critical view of this technology looks not at the sensing system but at the semi-tractor trailer that carries the apparatus around. They won't be putting this in a backpack anytime soon. If you really must know exactly how they did the tracking, rather than complain about what uncritical dufuses we are, I would suggest you google MTHEL and find [URL=http://www.st.northropgrumman.com/media/SiteFiles/mediagallery/factsheet/SPIE_Manuscript_Tactical_high-energy_laser.pdf]relevant papers[/URL]. [/QUOTE]

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