Chinese Laser weapons

The PLA (People's Liberation Army) has been feverishly modernizing its forces in the last few years, trying to bring a huge military force based in many ways on the Soviet forces of WWII into the modern era. They have done well on most areas, although to be fair, this has been greatly helped by espionage activities in the West. The PLA still faces an uphill battle against any country with a "21st century" force.



Here is one weapon they have developed to help even the odds. I don't have any real information from the Chinese on it, but it is of a class of weapons we could call dazzlers. The intended effect is to limit the enemies' sight and temporarily blind and disorient them. This could be very effective against landing planes, which is why the FAA and other bodies that ensure airline safety have been very worried even about relatively low powered green laser pointers.

It is similar to a US weapon I discussed earlier, the GLARE LA-9P. The Chinese weapons industry has also been paying attention to the design philosophies of the West and has designed the weapon to look and feel like their main assault rifle, the QBZ-95. This makes the soldiers immediately feel more familiar with it and can cut down on training time. It also would make it difficult for observers to tell that the soldier has a specialist weapon instead of a standard one.


As you can see, the beam looks very powerful and I would not doubt that it could have a blinding effect, especially in low light conditions. I do wonder how it would fare against soldiers wearing NV goggles. Keep in mind these types of weapons are not intended to cause permanent loss of vision, although I think it is very possible that they may have long term effects that are well, unintended. If a laser pointer from 1992 has a risk of giving you eye tumors, I for one wouldn't want to be anywhere near this thing. In fact, I am about as close as I wish to be right now.

Here is a smaller pistol sized variant. It is probably powered from a large battery worn on the belt or back like in the above pic. These weapons also can be used by law enforcement to gain compliance and prevent people from attacking the police. If you can't eve look in their direction, it would be pretty hard to fight them. And while I have my doubts on whether or not laser weapons are "safe" I know for sure they are safer than the methods that the Chinese authorities have used against protesters in the past.

Military Technology- GLARE LA-9/P

This is a new item being tested and evaluated by the USMC. It is called the GLARE LA-9/P. it is apparently classified as a "ocular interruption device". The GLARE is visible and effective up to 2.5 miles. It is classified as a less than lethal weapon, although personally, I wouldn't be surprised if this thing would give you eye-cancer. The LA-9/P is listed as a 250 milliwatt laser and is made by BE Myers. My quite insufficient wikipedia research tells me that it would likely fall into the Class IIIb/3B lasers which can cause immediate severe eye damage upon exposure. These are usually lasers up to 500 mW, such as those in CD and DVD writers. Note that it seems the housing states that the laser is eyesafe at 62.9 meters. According to the manufacturer, there is a safety that automatically deactivates the laser if a target is within the danger zone (the nominal ocular hazard distance or NOHD). So that is nice.

Above it is mounted on a folding stock for a Ruger. That's also nice, because those are about $85.00, and if we let the "military-industrial complex" make one, it would probably cost at least $450.00. I'm all about keeping costs down. It is powered by AA and 123 batteries, which are pretty easy to acquire anywhere, although the 123s can be expensive little bastards.



One possible use for a weapon of this type, is that of a long range warning device. The HBO miniseries Generation Kill showed that the Marines had a difficult time warning civilians and refugees to stop at roadblocks, sometimes with unfortunately fatal results. A device like this is clearly visible for long ranges and could be used to force a car to stop well short of the range where they could injure friendlies. Of course, it also might cause you to drive into a ditch.

As seen below, it could also be used for signaling and hailing, especially for ship to ship or airborne overwatch needs.


GLARE LA-9/P > Model No. 532C-LA-9/P

NSN Number: 5860-01-544-7175
Output Power (Visible): 250 mW
Wavelength: 532 nm (green)
Visible Beam Diverg. (Degrees): .29°
Power Supply: 4 AA & 1 Type 123
Dimensions: 10.25 x 1.75 x 2.25 in
Weight (With Batteries): 20.5 oz
NOHD: 63m (10 s exposure)
Effective Range (Hail & Warning): 300m (Day) - 4 km (Night)
1913 Rail Mount Available: Yes

Tomorrow's war today

Well teleportation we might not have, but look at this pic from Greece last summer.
Here we have a "protester" (misunderstood youth with a lack of job opportunities and government representation, not a communist hooligan burning his own city. Get it straight.)
using a green laser to attack the eyes of Greek riot police. These lasers were recently outlawed in Australia because of suspected Islamic militants were shining them at the cockpits of jets as they came in for landing. This could very easily blind the pilot and cause the plane to crash. Exposure of lasers to the eyes is also thought to cause ocular cancers. So this is not some cute peacenik trick to play on police, like chaining yourself to a fence. This is an attack, with a dangerous weapon.

Lasers and other energy weapons are becoming increasing important and will play a larger role in missile and air defense as the technologies, and more importantly the power sources are
advanced. The military has been working on a gigantic airborne laser for a long time now, but are still having problems with it, not the least of which is that most lasers that are for more than exercising the cat need huge tanks of expensive, corrosive chemicals to work.



One other note, protesting is a fine way to show your dissent, and I believe that free peoples have the right to protest. But the second that you wear a mask, throw a stone, tip a car, or shine a laser at some one's eyes, you are no longer a protester. You are a asshole rioter. And the response to a riot is commensurate with the size of the riot. 40 idiots protesting the G8 in St. Simons= stern looks from overly well-equipped police. 25,000 masked hooligans burning the city to protest whatever is upsetting them=National Guard in APCs with live ammo. Police have a duty to end a riot with as little loss of life as possible, but some people on the extreme left like to think that they can use methods against "the system" that they would consider war crimes if they were used in war. Like, um, I dunno, intentionally blinding people.