I’m too lazy to look it up, but yeah, aren’t these Shaheed “missiles” really slow and level, making them targets for vastly cheaper bullets vs missiles?

[–] mossberg590@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Bring back the P-51 Mustang.

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

depending on weather and distance, lasers can be a cheap solution

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Do jets generate enough extra power to do a sustained laser to knock it out?

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

lasers are usually used from the ground, but if you must use it on a jet, i would suggest chemical lasers. however, it can blind someone you can't see, many kilometers away. it's dangerous to shoot lasers from above

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Ah that's a really good point about danger... If you miss who knows where the fuck it'll end up and who's there.

You could try to get below things to shoot up, but that seems really restrictive.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago

Not really. Boeing built an airborne laser platform, YAL-1, a modified 747 that had a Megawatt laser as a testbed for shooting down ballistic missiles.

But apparently ground based lasers are currently in use along the US border. Not sure whether these are only capable of taking down smaller consumer and commercial drones, or can also work on larger UAVs.

[–] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

That AMRAAM costs what, 20x as much as the Shahed? Good that they stopped it but Ukraine needs more cutting edge drone defenses. Energy weapons.