Analyst: Use Lasers on Pirates (and Everything Else)

Well-known defense and homeland security analyst James Jay Carafano, PhD, has a solution to the pirate crisis: Lasers. Which should come as no surprise. Since the Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow thinks the answers to all kinds of security questions -- from Russian mortars to Hezbollah missiles to jihadists' bombs to pirates' boats -- lie in lasers and other so-called "directed energy weapons."  In his latest WebMemo, "Pentagon Should Battle Pirates and Terrorists with Laser Technology," Carafano is disappointed that "the Pentagon is still reluctant to field these weapons because they cannot achieve the power and mobility the military thinks it needs for many battlefield missions." But fighting pirates don't require high-powered lasers, like the THEL. Less-potent lasers "would be effective for addressing a range of threats." The weapons "could, for example, disable the engines of small boats." Or they could "detonate shoulder-fired missiles before they strike their targets." Or they could "trigger IEDs [improvised explosive devices] from a safe distance before they threaten passing convoys," Carafano offers. Why, there's practically nothing the ray guns can't do.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/analyst-use-las.html

Do you use a news reader? Makes it very easy to monitor the 'Prairie Pooch Hole' and other feeds! Click on this line for instructions.