In the Falklands, the British shot down two Argentine fighters by blinging the pilots with lasers from a ship. Brits have been using lasers for air defense for many years.

Excuse me? What lasers would these be? I've never read anything about any of the Falklands era Brit ships being mounted with air defence lasers! Most of them relied on manually aimed 20 and 30 mm guns, not to mention the odd GPMG bolted to a rail. Using lasers to blind people is also contrary to the International Laws of Armed Conflict, and I don't remember seeing Maggie Thatcher putting in an appearance in The Hague. When and where were these aircraft shot down? By which ships? Are the pilots still alive?

I remember that about 2 years ago,on the coast here(canada) a CF-18 navigator (sitting behind the pilot) was blinded by a russian "trawler". They used some sort of laser device,the Canadian coast guard searched the vessel and came up with nothing. Lasers are real,and are in limited use.

I'm not disputing that they exist, only some of the uses that people are claiming for them. Specifically: A: That they were used by the Brits during the Falklands. I've seen no evidence of that. B: If they can blind a guy sitting behind the pilot of an F/A-18 moving at several hundred kilometers a second at an unspecified distance without getting the pilot as well, I think we've well out of the realms of reality. I'll tell you why they didn't find one when they searched the ship; it wasn't there. Would you really park such an amazing piece of ground breaking technolgy 5000 miles away from home within sight of the Canadian shoreline? Let's get real guys.

Hunter backs local Navy officer nearly blinded by Russian laser by Otto Kreisher COPLEY NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON -- A San Diego-based Navy officer whose eyes were damaged by an apparent laser beam from a suspected Russian spy ship said yesterday he was injured by what was an act of war, terrorism or criminal conduct. But, Lt. Jack Daly told a congressional panel, nothing happened to the Russians while his Navy career is in jeopardy because of official objections to his claims. However, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, praised Daly for his "good service to the country" and said he would insist that the Navy treat the eye damage "as a service-related injury in every aspect, including its effect on his career." Hunter, who led a successful fight last year to keep a Chinese shipping company from leasing space at the former Long Beach Naval Station, also said he might try to bar Russian ships from ports with sensitive military installations. The incident involving Daly occurred April 4, 1997, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, near the U.S. submarine base at Bangor, Wash. The Navy intelligence officer was flying in a Canadian helicopter monitoring the Russian merchant ship Kapitan Man, which appeared to be shadowing a U.S. ballistic missile submarine. A suspected laser device fired from the Kapitan Man left him and the Canadian pilot "victims of what could be argued was a hostile act in an undeclared war, an act of terrorism, and, at a minimum, a federal crime," Daly told Hunter's House Armed Services subcommittee on procurement. He and Canadian Air Force Capt. Patrick Barnes have since suffered persistent pain and deteriorating eyesight, Daly said. Although the use of a laser that blinds is a violation of international laws, "no formal or thorough investigation has ever been conducted into the incident," said Daly, now with Amphibious Group 3. Daly said officials from the State Department and the White House insisted on notifying the Russians that the Kapitan Man would be inspected a day later and severely restricted the search. No laser device was found. The Poway resident said he has been accused of fabricating the entire incident, his loyalty has been questioned and he was passed over for promotion. Daly, 40, began his service as a Navy enlisted man and has 16 years of service. If he again is denied promotion this year, he could be forced from active duty, less than four years short of eligibility for retirement pay. But Hunter said he would speak directly to Adm. Jay Johnson, the chief of naval operations, to insist that Daly's career be protected. Hunter said Daly's experience led him to hold the hearing, which examined protections for military personnel from unconventional threats. Senior officers at the hearing displayed the latest protective devices, including a variety of goggles or visors to protect against lasers. But none of those protective devices was available to Daly or to the U.S. Army helicopter crewmen who were injured by a laser device over Bosnia last year. They now are being supplied to troops where the threat of laser attack exists, officials said.

I think the british death ray in question, or to be more exact the directed energy weapon, is in fact, more likely to be a microwave based weapon, currently this weapon is thought to be nearing use, and it is thought that this weapon could be used in an upcoming conflict in Iraq, working by supplying a high energy microwave beam at any protroding aerials etc. This high energy shoudl be enough to disrupt all computers and or electrical equipment in a command bunker. At the moment though, I believe this weapon is expendible, in future this could be on an aircraft mounted pod.

Just an adendum, found a link on that, http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_military.jsp?view=story&id=news/mlasr0726.xml A few more out there, only relating to british tests, though the text does mention an American test. Basically it would appear this weapon (which is now being talked about in the media as being prepared for war) has been tested for some time. It seems the brits and the Americans are looking at it from a different perspective, the Americans want a dispossable system, whilst the brits appear to be working on a reusable system, but of course, not all information has been released on this obviously, though most testing has been done at Eglin AFB, where they hae been looking at High Powered Microwaves for some time.

is it the microwave burst weapons for taking out electrical componets or is it the laser designed by the american and the isrealis to take out missles, and canon rounds. it is capable of being used now and consists of a radar guided laser weapons that shoots the projectiles out of the air it has been tested against rockets and even mortor shells. and has been very sucessful.

As far as I am aware this is the microwave weapon.

Microwave weapons have been around since the 70s.......a normal person w/ a good knowledge of electronics can build one powerfull enough to do some damage.....i don't know why just now they're gettin used.