"In 2000 and 2001 THEL shot down 28 Katyusha artillery rockets and 5 artillery shells. On November 4, 2002, THEL shot down an incoming artillery shell. A mobile version has completed successful testing. During a test conducted on Aug. 24, 2004 the system successfully shot down multiple mortar rounds. The test represented actual mortar threat scenarios. Targets were intercepted by the THEL testbed and destroyed; both single mortar rounds and salvo were tested.

Even though military experts such as the former head of the Administration for the Development of Weapons and the Technological Industry, Aluf Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, were calling for the implementation of the THEL, the project was discontinued.

In theory certain countermeasures could reduce the effectiveness of THEL. These could include heat hardening and reflective coating of the projectiles, which would increase the necessary laser exposure time. However THEL has primarily been developed to intercept relatively primitive threats such as homemade Qassam rockets and World War II-era Katyusha rockets, which thus far have not incorporated sophisticated countermeasures."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTHEL

Looks like a CIWS with a big magnifying glass. Wouldn't a mobile phalanx platform of some sort do the same thing? Shit, they can track ten incoming targets at once (that was years ago, though).

Arrr!

http://www.talklikeapirateday.com/wordpress/
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/howto.html

Yeah but the CIWS eats ammo like it's no tommorrow. It's hardly suitable for a mobile combat role.

Plus the THEL has a lower kill to cost ratio, and unlike the CIWS it can intercept motar shells.

Arrrr! Us scallywags need arrr seewhiz on arrr frigate!

Higher kill/cost ratio, you mean?

It just seems like the THEL requires so much juice, I wonder just how mobile it really is. As far as the CWIS, I understand that the radar and guidance system it uses is much more that just the gun itself, and that it requires oodles of ammo, but yer telling me it can't hit a leetle mortar shell floating through the air? Hmmm... We didn't actually have a CWIS on my ship, but we painted one of those steel trashcans with the dome lids white, and then painted broomsticks and mounted 'em to look like phalanx barrels. Sounds hokey, but I swear to god it looked like the real thing from the flight deck. I'm sure we fooled those Russian "fishing" trawlers (that all seemed to have way too many satellite and radar dishes) whenever we ran into them after leaving port in San Diego.

Shit, just realized I forgot to vote.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'in the year 2000, missle command, laser' to 'in the year 2000, missle command, laser, military porn' - edited by sometimes

As an Air Defender by trade, (PATRIOT) I'm just messing my pants watching this. MTHEL is sweet. As far as i know its gone nowhere. The guys in the system operating it are in 6th ADA Brigade, stationed at Ft. Bliss TX, which means those test were conducted at either McGregor range or White Sands missile range, probably the latter. As far as power requirements, i can't be to sure, but i know our PATRIOT system takes allot of juice to run. Without discloses shit i can't, I'll put it to you this way: When were radiating, (running the radar) if a bird flies in front of it close enough (which isn't all that close) hell cook from the inside out. These kinds of systems take a lot of juice to run, we actually have an electric power plant on the back of a truck just for this the patriot system. The worst part about it is, you cant even run anything else off of that source cuz its 400hz.

*dead

This published video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by mauz15.