OT Interesting news item

[Phoenix-D]

Kamog said:
If they put shiny mirrored surfaces on the missile, the lasers would reflect off.

Very briefly, and then the laser burns through the mirror and POOF. Mirrors aren't totally reflected, and that .01% is a !%$ when you're talking about stopping a weapons-level laser.

Doesn't count the difficulty in finding IR-reflective stuff, either.. It is possible, just not as common.

EDIT: Speaking of lasers, I read a nasty idea for a weapon a while back.

You take a powerful laser, and set it up so it gets split into many relatively weak beams. Then you shine a normal light into the same arrangement. Now, the laser won't be visible from a distance unless you're looking at it straight on..but the regular light will scatter more, and will be.

The human eye is instintively drawn to look at the shiny light, and the instant it does it also look straight into the laser.

Instant blindness for almost everyone within LOS of the disco ball of doom..