Two side observations unrelated to the laser rifle:
1) It's surprising or kind of amusing that such a huge and complex submarine uses plain old Raytheon / Raymarine radar when operating in harbor, etc. as if were just a little sailboat. But whatever works and is effective! I wonder how it has to be dismantled and put up, taken down each time? Perhaps it's mostly for being visible to other ships/monitoring stations? I recalled hearing that a sub is never in such places without accompanying surface fleet/tugs/etc anyway.
2) Looking at the periscope mast, the amount of technological sophistication in that thing must be incredible. The amount of communications (radio, laser, metallurgy, stealth coatings, etc) gadgetry there I'm sure would boggle the mind. Yet it all goes to the theme -- here is a boat worth many billions of $ and the pinnacle of US military sophistication, being put into the hands and trust of mostly 20-something young sailors, and mostly without incident. Truly amazing that we're able to do that.
Using a cheapo radar gives a military target better "obvious" cover from electronical intelligence. As radars use active emmissions, they can be characterized and profiled. At range a civilian grade radar will not be fired upon in war without confirmation and in peace they can be used to hide your actual wartime radar capabilities and characteristics
> It's surprising or kind of amusing that such a huge and complex submarine uses plain old Raytheon / Raymarine radar when operating in harbor
Stealth ships and aircraft won't turn on the fancy toys when they are in predictable locations to avoid adversaries being able to collect and analyze signals intelligence.
>It's surprising or kind of amusing that such a huge and complex submarine uses plain old Raytheon / Raymarine radar when operating in harbor, etc. as if were just a little sailboat.
A warship has a lot more manpower (as well as highly refined policy/procedure) to get the most out of that cheapo radar.
The truly amazing thing it to consider that this boat is an iteration of an analog design which matured over 80 years ago.
When we consider the design characteristics of those older boats we can truly appreciate how much knowledge we had to build from scratch and glean from failure in order to get where we are today.
Unfortunately the US Navy has been beset by incident. Navigation of its ships is no longer a certain thing. Look for coverage on this matter which mentions the McCain and the Fitzgerald.
That Raymarine unit is a secondary piece of equipment, and is there primarily for its transponder capabilities, which the primary radar unit (the AN/BPS-16, which I believe is integrated into the masts) probably doesn't have. The last thing a submarine wants is an enhanced "here I am!" capability.
Submarines, in general, rely primarily on their passive sensors- passive sonar and EW receivers. A submarine's best offensive and defensive capability is stealth.
1) It's surprising or kind of amusing that such a huge and complex submarine uses plain old Raytheon / Raymarine radar when operating in harbor, etc. as if were just a little sailboat. But whatever works and is effective! I wonder how it has to be dismantled and put up, taken down each time? Perhaps it's mostly for being visible to other ships/monitoring stations? I recalled hearing that a sub is never in such places without accompanying surface fleet/tugs/etc anyway.
2) Looking at the periscope mast, the amount of technological sophistication in that thing must be incredible. The amount of communications (radio, laser, metallurgy, stealth coatings, etc) gadgetry there I'm sure would boggle the mind. Yet it all goes to the theme -- here is a boat worth many billions of $ and the pinnacle of US military sophistication, being put into the hands and trust of mostly 20-something young sailors, and mostly without incident. Truly amazing that we're able to do that.