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Laser bomb question.


Dudester22

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What you are seeing is the IR pointer, not the laser. The laser is not visible, although it will damage a human retina if you shine it in someone's eyes. That is why there is a "train" mode on the laser which reduces the power of the designator to avoid causing damage to people's vision during training.

 

So IR mode in the TGP is only used to point out targets to friendlies at night? It's not used to guide the bomb in anyway? So you can just keep the TGP displaying (L) and the laser will still find it's target at night? I know the laser cannot penetrate clouds or objects, but can it be used at night on it's own then?


Edited by Dudester22
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So IR mode in the TGP is only used to point out targets to friendlies at night? It's not used to guide the bomb in anyway? So you can just keep the TGP displaying (L) and the laser will still find it's target at night? I know laser cannot penetrate clouds or objects, but can it see at night then?

 

 

There are choices on the MFD when you have the TGP selected and in A-G mode. You can set it to LSR - Laser only, IR - IR pointer only, or Both - Laser and IR pointer at the same time. The LGB's need the laser and will not track the IR pointer alone.



Win 10 64 Pro, MSI Z390 I7-9700K @5ghz Kraken Z63, 32Gb Corsair Dominator, MSI RTX-2070, 1TB NVME 2TB SSD's, TM Warthog, Pro Rudders, OpenTrack w/ IR Clip

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There are choices on the MFD when you have the TGP selected and in A-G mode. You can set it to LSR - Laser only, IR - IR pointer only, or Both - Laser and IR pointer at the same time. The LGB's need the laser and will not track the IR pointer alone.

 

I know, but I'm just trying to clarify that you would only use IR to point out enemy positions to friendlies at night, is this correct?


Edited by Dudester22
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Yep, looks pretty cool too IMO.

 

Edit: And I suppose IRL that the enemy could also see the IR pointer going back to the aircraft.


Edited by txmtb



Win 10 64 Pro, MSI Z390 I7-9700K @5ghz Kraken Z63, 32Gb Corsair Dominator, MSI RTX-2070, 1TB NVME 2TB SSD's, TM Warthog, Pro Rudders, OpenTrack w/ IR Clip

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Why is the IR beam visible with NVG as opposed to the laser beam?

Different wave lengths. The pointer operates in the wave band that is used by NVG, the designation laser not. My guess is, that this is deliberately designed that way - what would a pointer be good for if nobody could see it?

laser.gif.991ff107c6211320ea4dc32f4c7ecbc4.gif


Edited by Flagrum
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^

Thanks. I guess my question is why do you see the beam at all? Even with NVG. Like when you take a regular flashlight, you don't see the light beam unless there are a lot of dust particles in the air. I guess it is this Rayleigh scattering effect where the beam is bouncing off the air molecules themselves. In a perfect vacuum, I imagine you wouldn't see the beam.

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I believe the reason you can see the IR beam is because the NVG's actually convert it to visible light and it's focused the same as a laser beam with spatial coherence.



Win 10 64 Pro, MSI Z390 I7-9700K @5ghz Kraken Z63, 32Gb Corsair Dominator, MSI RTX-2070, 1TB NVME 2TB SSD's, TM Warthog, Pro Rudders, OpenTrack w/ IR Clip

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I believe the reason you can see the IR beam is because the NVG's actually convert it to visible light and it's focused the same as a laser beam with spatial coherence.

What he meant is, how can we see it AT ALL, even if it is not pointed at us? You can only see the beam if there is some kind of scattering that allows some of the photons to be deflected into our eyes. Thats why disco lasers usually are used together with artificial fog.

 

Maybe it is just the natural water vapor ...

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Ahhh, missed that point. Would assume water vapor, dust, etc, also.



Win 10 64 Pro, MSI Z390 I7-9700K @5ghz Kraken Z63, 32Gb Corsair Dominator, MSI RTX-2070, 1TB NVME 2TB SSD's, TM Warthog, Pro Rudders, OpenTrack w/ IR Clip

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There is always something in the air. There's always some laser absorption and reflection, it's just too little power reflected to be visible.

 

Lasers in the visible spectrum are beam visible at night between 50mW and 100mW depending on the frequency. 1.5W to be visible in some daylight conditions. You can get 100mW hand held laser pointers, and I have one...I use it to point out stars to my daughter, and everyone can see the beam and the star it points at.

 

The TGP is big enough to have a 1.5W, but I doubt it...it is probably the 100mW variety. And the NVG will enhance any reflected power...it would see even invisible optical spectrum beams.

 

I also own a 6.5kW laser. It is the laser end of a laser pantograph. I got it US government surplus; the treasury used to use it to mill steel rollers to make money with (they don't press money anymore, just ink a wheel and pass media over it real fast like). Anyway, it puts out IR but it's beam visible (when you focus the beam narrow enough). Because the dust in the air absorbs enough energy and either luminesces, burns, or gives that energy to other molecules around it which then state change to plasma. At least judging by pictures of GAU-8 I've seen, I'd guess it's about the same physical dimensions, not sure on weight. Most of the chassis is oil capacitors and a granite wall to isolate the rf exciters.

 

There's an interesting Navy project to do undersea communications with lasers. Small power, focused to a point, causes a small speck of water to vaporize and then the sound of cavitation that results is receivable and can be used as a comm signal. Overcomes the problem of radio and the ocean being a giant farraday cage.

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