Sailing's future: deterring pirates by laser?

11:58 PM Mon 11 Apr 2011 GMT

'Keep offa my boat!' . Click Here to view large photo

Not many cruising sailors would hazard a journey through the Indian Ocean right now, but the test of a high-energy laser weapon last week off the coast of California could point the way to a future useful deterrent that does not use lethal force or risk the lives of crew. In the test Northrop Grumman's Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD)-a diode-pumped solid-state high-energy laser weapon-successfully demonstrated that it could disable a boat by setting fire to its engines while at sea. The high-energy laser (HEL) was fired from the Navy's self-defense test ship-a former U.S. warship-USS Paul Foster in the Pacific ...

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by OptoIQ/Sail-World Cruising