NationStates Jolt Archive

Next Science Update will be on 20th May 2007 at around 00:00


Hey, i figured we could discuss how we were reforming Excalibur here. This is what Wagdog had originally said in a TG:
If it's needed you can make some preliminary revisions to the Excalibur system right now with this info. First, it's really supposed to be a chemical laser rather than plasma, with the tower spikes surrounding the 900m laser tower being coolant towers to regulate the chemical feed system. The engagement capabilities are identical: 545 miles in direct fire, 750 miles in one boost from a reflector aircraft or satellite, or global even depending on how many satllites the beam is bounced off of.

Now the satellites are OK insofar as having anti-spacecraft/aircraft missiles (I'd guess PAC-2 Patriot- or S-300 grade) and kinetic-kill-interceptor missiles (PAC-3 Patriot or S-400, or higher if possible for the satellite), but frankly I agree with the critics that the satellite-mounted railguns should be dropped. Instead, substitute an architecture of four Railway-mounted Ractical Laser System cannons around the Excalibur tower itself (the rails arranged in an X pattern and leading into bunkers); essentially "laser artillery" like the modern system Israel uses to shoot down Katyushas, only VASTLY more powerful of course and also chemical-laser in nature.

The system would still retain its fundamental capabilities: Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense, Air Defense, and Global Range Precision Strike; and in fact might be slightly stronger since the tower's defenses gain four railcar-mounted "baby Excaliburs" to assist its own defense. Sound good, at least as an interim until Vetaka can design an Excalibur MkII so you can fully go to your original idea?

So lets get to work, eh?

Well, really all that needs doing is...

Documenting the Science--> Tracing out the various RL SDI concepts behind the fictional Belkan Excalibur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Excalibur_Ballistic_Missile_Defense.jpg), all of which have had small-scale experiments done which show their theoretical possibility at least; most of these as part of the Reagan Administration SDI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative) program. Of course, that doesn't mean they're necessarily feasible in Belkan form IRL, but this is NS so that goes into the whole "well what about your 1.5km and 20 million tonne superdreadnought, eh?" bucket as far as I'm concerned. Enough. Realismwank. Seriously. Anyway, Vetaka's said that he'll handle this AFAIK and I guess he has to you too; problem is, that could take as long as three RL months, so hmm...:headbang:
Refining the Weapon's Description--> Just what is and does what anyway in this system?:confused: The main laser should really be chemical if it's to be even PMT (hence probably HECL/"High Energy Chemical Laser," or perhaps my favored TSLS/"Tower-sheathed Strategic Laser System"), with a large-enough feedstock to be essentially unlimited-use (easily thousands of shots per main weapon, with more capable of being supplied by a nation's chemical industry in a long war). I suspect the reason the main cannon is a 900m tall fixed firing tower to begin with is at least partially to handle all the "ammo" available and used during the lasing process; with the various smaller towers surrounding it being the coolant towers to keep the system from overheating and self-destructing after one shot.
The satellite-railguns should be dropped entirely; that was the most-iggyed part of the whole thing, and those satellites are mean enough with those mirrors and missiles attached anyway. Instead, substitute four RTLS/"Railcar Tactical Laser Systems" mounted around the main TSLS tower on railways in an X pattern; allowing for fairly powerful on-site air defenses once supplemented with SAMs. Also, add four fixed Jamming Stations like in the game version, so an attacking force has to deal with all sorts of ECM first before it can reliably target the area too precisely.
Adjusting the Cost--> This is the part where, even accounting for all the research, we have to simply guess.:rolleyes: Personally, I think your original prices were decent (n00bs can't buy Excalibur without allies footing the bill), but they should probably be looked over anyway since the satellites will be cheaper once the railguns are dropped. The missiles should stay though, so long as we clarify what generic types they are (I bet various nations would like to customize the satellite missiles to their national "style," e.g. Western or Warsaw Pact or pure-NS stuff...) for both antiair (I say SM-2ER Standard II/S-300PMU3 Gargoyle) and antimissile (SM-3 Standard III/S-400 Growler) types.
Rationalizing the Capabilities--> Although Excalibur comes awfully close, NO weapon is invincible and even Excalibur has its weaknesses (the Belkans lost their version after all...;)). A hostile Excalibur is an obvious one, as are large-caliber (SD shell grade) godrods which would probably be more common; and harder to defend against since most godrod satellites are hardened against laser fire, requiring longer shots to ensure a kill on the satellite. I doubt a Falling Hammer would just bounce off either if it hit, and if dropped by the several could even perhaps overcome the jamming through sheer overkill carpet-bombing; but then again any bombers dropping any would have to get past the laser fire and satellite/ground missiles first. Not easy when the main AA fire will be coming at you at lightspeed...
In short, Excalibur is an extreme weapon (usually classified as a WMD despite being more discriminate than just about any of those), but equally-extreme weapons can theoretically counter it; so it's not a panacea for the nation using it by any means. Just one VERY serious military capability among many others, and very versatile. Although I wouldn't recommend using it for direct-fire antishipping work (since Eralineta got iggyed for that), any large vessel targeted indirectly by a laser this powerful would need serious deck armor to avoid getting skewered or sliced; possibly through to the magazines resulting in an instant blowup. And even wiht such armor, the less-armored parts (CIWS, RADAR, &c) are likely to be fried and result in a "mission-kill". And in direct or indirect fire modes, large formations of aircraft (especially large aircraft) are in serious trouble if on the receiving end of an Excalibur strike; as shown in the game originating the weapon idea to begin with. So good luck trying a paradrop over an Excalibur-defended country is what I say. You'd need it, and a hefty anti-Excalibur campaign to back it up.

I doubt this could survive a Falling Hammer or Starbolt bombardment, this project will cost billions in R&D, trillions to build and a lot to maintain.

Waste of money, limited combat use as it could warrant another WMD response and a nice target.

lol, some people don't understand the meaning of closed. OK, now the orbiting platforms - we could make these physical "platforms," you know, space station type, or we could have them be smaller satellites.

Also, about the energy issue, is fusion within PMT? If so, we could easily point to that.

Controllable fusion is future tech, if your going with power its going to be far cheaper to use normal reactor technology for cost and feasibility.

bump for Vetaka, who also has a few TGs.

Controllable fusion is future tech, if your going with power its going to be far cheaper to use normal reactor technology for cost and feasibility.
Indeed, good point.:) For that, I think we could stand to let you in so long as this doesn't turn into a bashing thread instead of the critical thinking thread it's supposed to be. You have some expertise here IIRC anyway, so let's avail ourselves shall we?

But yeah, there are tons of electronic systems on this that are going to need HUGE power reserves, and nuclear reactors of some sort would be a given. And yes, you also have a point about it's size being a big problem as far as defense goes; made even worse by the fact that it's a fixed weapon. Really, the only aspect that makes Excalibur attractive as a weapons system even in the out-there universes of Ace Combat and NationStates is the mirror satellite network; which provides boost-phase BMD and global precision strike capabilities, as well as tangential-fire capabilities for exoatmospheric air defense (an anti-Sabre, anyone?:D). Were it not for those aspects, yeah I wouldn't be interested in it actually; as I'm not too big on static defenses although I do have some (such as Wolfe Costal Guns) of course.

Another interesting point -

We have tons of satellites in space, as well as mirrors. Whats to stop us from using those mirrors in peacetime situations to direct power at solar power generators? Those generators can, over time, produce a massive energy reserve to activiate the system when neccessary.

The Way I see it Excalibur has 2 profoundly large factors that need to be addressed:

1) The Science:

The biggest problem people have with Excalibur is the science behind it ill be honest I am not the science expert but ill do my best. The Science behind it is their its just effectively documenting it on NS I mean for my OBSAT System I have literally hundreds of A4 Pads of paper full of notes, research and diagrams as a result for my system the problem now is not the research its getting it on NS for you guys and the draftroom. lol.

I have to agree with Wagdog its going to have to be a Chemical Laser as opposed to Plasma as Plasma at this time is abit unfeasible however I do remember reading a Paper on the subject a while back basically saying Science was just starting to research the subject so who knows.

Again I agree with Wagdog the main cannon would have to be around 900m and atall fixed firing tower to begin with is at least partially to handle all the "ammo" available and used during the lasing process. As for the Cooling System that could be done in one of two ways:

- The Coolant Tower System
- The Cooling Lake System (basically Weapon is built next to a Lake and Water is constantly pumped into the weapon to keep it cool)

2) Weapon Defence Systems:

Obviously the System would have its own Defence System I believe a Layered National Defence System would be an idea to. Basically a nation monitors whats in coming and acts accordingly. If Kampfers agrees id like to use the OBSAT Griffin Security System for the Weapons Computers and other OBSAT Defences. As for the Weapons personal defence I am thinking:

- Various Electronic Warfare Systems (E.g ECM/GPS Jamming)
- Adaptive Camoflage Systems (EACS)
- Modified Aim-47 Falcon Missiles
- "Suicide Drone" Defence Systems
- Excalibur Attack GPS Prediction System (EAGPSPS)
- Conventional AA Defence Systems

Although I hate to admit it their is a possibility OBSAT maybe used to attack the Excalibur System so what I propose is to install Anti OBSAT Defences to Vetakan, Wagdog and Kampfers systems.

Anyway ive already started on the science and ill put weekly updates up in this thread for you guys and anybody else is monitoring this thread. Updates will be put up every Sunday Evening.

Next Science Update will be on 20th May 2007 at around 00:00 (Kampfers if you could update your first post to state this)

The Way I see it Excalibur has 2 profoundly large factors that need to be addressed:

1) The Science:

The biggest problem people have with Excalibur is the science behind it ill be honest I am not the science expert but ill do my best. The Science behind it is their its just effectively documenting it on NS I mean for my OBSAT System I have literally hundreds of A4 Pads of paper full of notes, research and diagrams as a result for my system the problem now is not the research its getting it on NS for you guys and the draftroom. lol.

I have to agree with Wagdog its going to have to be a Chemical Laser as opposed to Plasma as Plasma at this time is abit unfeasible however I do remember reading a Paper on the subject a while back basically saying Science was just starting to research the subject so who knows.

Again I agree with Wagdog the main cannon would have to be around 900m and atall fixed firing tower to begin with is at least partially to handle all the "ammo" available and used during the lasing process. As for the Cooling System that could be done in one of two ways:

- The Coolant Tower System
- The Cooling Lake System (basically Weapon is built next to a Lake and Water is constantly pumped into the weapon to keep it cool)

2) Weapon Defence Systems:

Obviously the System would have its own Defence System I believe a Layered National Defence System would be an idea to. Basically a nation monitors whats in coming and acts accordingly. If Kampfers agrees id like to use the OBSAT Griffin Security System for the Weapons Computers and other OBSAT Defences. As for the Weapons personal defence I am thinking:

- Various Electronic Warfare Systems (E.g ECM/GPS Jamming)
- Adaptive Camoflage Systems (EACS)
- Modified Aim-47 Falcon Missiles
- "Suicide Drone" Defence Systems
- Excalibur Attack GPS Prediction System (EAGPSPS)
- Conventional AA Defence Systems

Although I hate to admit it their is a possibility OBSAT maybe used to attack the Excalibur System so what I propose is to install Anti OBSAT Defences to Vetakan, Wagdog and Kampfers systems.

Anyway ive already started on the science and ill put weekly updates up in this thread for you guys and anybody else is monitoring this thread. Updates will be put up every Sunday Evening.

Next Science Update will be on 20th May 2007 at around 00:00 (Kampfers if you could update your first post to state this)

Ok. I think that the lake coolant system would work the best - note that all nuclear powerplants have a lake next door, or the ocean. But it does not limit where you place it, it can be a manmade lake. Sorry your having to go through this, lol. Also, for that defense part, we need to figure out a way to prevent the whole system from shutting down in an EMP attack. Faraday cages perhaps?

Excalibur (laser)
Excalibur

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/2/27/Excalibur_ballistic_missile_defense.jpg

Class
Pinpoint Strike Cannon

Controller
Belka

Based
Schayne Plains, Tauberg, Belka

Supporting units
Reflective Satellite System Targeting patrol aircraft

Armaments
High impact chemical laser cannon,
Railway Tactical Laser Cannon Network


Creation and Operation
The Excalibur is a fictional chemical laser weapon in Ace Combat Zero located in the Schayne Plains national park, Tauberg in South Belka. The structure of Exalibur looks similar to Final Fantasy's Buster Sword.

Developed in 1981 by the then, extremely strong Belkan economy as a symbol of power and as a missile defence platform. Although concerns at the location of its construction (a national park) it was discovered that the flora, fauna and wildlife all adapted to the cannon rather ironically making Schayne an area of immense scientific interest for ecological research, not for the technological achievement itself.

Although rarely used before 1995, the facility was well designed and kept up-to-date with the latest technology developed by Anton Kupchenko and the the South Belkan Munitions Factory which produced almost all of Belka's potential war power.

Because of the massive levels of power needed to fire the immense weapon, an underground geothermal generator, numerous solar panels and conventional power stations were positioned around the plains. Also built into the cannon were seven large cooling towers, this allowed rapid dumping of waste heat and allowed the cannon to recover to normal firing conditions in under thirty seconds, posing a threat to missiles launched in waves to avoid Excaliburs blast.


Uses as a weapon
While admired as a technological marvel, the weapon got its first use against a target in 1994 with the discovery of the 1994XF04 asteroid, however, its inability to destroy it inspired the construction of a newer and up-to-date attack system to be built on the Usean Continent. The reality of such failure did nothing to help the Belkan peoples spirits in its escalating financial crisis.

A year before (and possibly in preparation for) the planetfall of the newly named Ulysses asteroid, Belka declared war on its neighbours, focusing on its ceded territory of Ustio as well as the superpower Osea, both of whom had massive amounts of natural resources the Belkans desperately needed in order to revive their economy.

It was at this time Excalibur was employed once again. Via the use of reflective satellites the cannon was put to extraordinary effect across the entire war from its safe haven in Tauberg. To further the Belkan advantage in the war, the Excalibur employed its pinpoint strike ability to act as an anti-aircraft weapon, used to great effect to obliterate both transport and fighter squadrons alike on the southern battle front. In light of this deadly re-purposing, the allied forces used mercenary fighter squadrons to fly a suicide mission into the impenetrable Schayne Plains in a desperate attempt to halt the Belkan onslaught. To the amazement of allied and Belkan forces alike, this wing of fighters achieved their objective and put an end to a brief but deadly threat.

With the destruction of one of Belka's most treasured landmarks and their most sizeable advantage to date, the entire of the battlefront was left open for the allied forces to strike using the full power of their combined air force and cruise missile resulting in the quick domination of South Belka, its secession from North Belka and finally its unconditional surrender to the allied forces.


Just a detailed history. Important parts in bold, but we may need to revise them.

2) Weapon Defence Systems:

Obviously the System would have its own Defence System I believe a Layered National Defence System would be an idea to. Basically a nation monitors whats in coming and acts accordingly. If Kampfers agrees id like to use the OBSAT Griffin Security System for the Weapons Computers and other OBSAT Defences. As for the Weapons personal defence I am thinking:

- Various Electronic Warfare Systems (E.g ECM/GPS Jamming)
- Adaptive Camoflage Systems (EACS)
- Modified Aim-47 Falcon Missiles
- "Suicide Drone" Defence Systems
- Excalibur Attack GPS Prediction System (EAGPSPS)
- Conventional AA Defence Systems

Also, I don't see Brilliant Pebbles on here. They should be an option, Blackhelm used them against me. Heres an article on them. Seems pretty realistic to incorporate if you ask me.

Coyle Takes Aim at Brilliant Pebbles
July 26, 2006
UPI


Philip Coyle, senior advisor at the Center for Defense Information, was recently quoted in the UPI on the issue of space-based missile defenses and in particular, the Brilliant Pebbles defense system. “The idea was that a small satellite with good brain [sic] that would see enemy missiles and dash off after it, hit it and knock it down,” he said, but noted that such a concept would have required numerous satellites, perhaps as many as 1,000 to be effective. “You can’t have one interceptor parked over North Korea,” he argued. “You need another to take its place.” Coyle also questioned the monetary feasibility of the program. “It would be, by all measures, very expensive. And it’s still problematic as to whether it would work. They’ve been projecting [costs] for at least 20 years and it doesn’t seem to happen.”

Would Brilliant Pebbles work? Coyle does not mention that Brilliant Pebbles had successfully completed its simulation stage and was ready to move to the proof-of-concept, prototype, and performance testing stages when it was effectively starved of funding as the Clinton administration came to power. Nor does he mention that in 1994 NASA launched a deep-space probe mission known as “Clementine,” constructed with first-generation Brilliant Pebbles hardware. The mission, which cost $80 million, effectively “space-qualified” Brilliant Pebbles technology, even though the missile defense program had already been eliminated.

Would Brilliant Pebbles be too expensive? The newly released report by the Independent Working Group entitled Missile Defense, the Space Relationship and the Twenty-First Century—the report cited by the UPI piece—puts the total cost of a 1,000-satellite constellation of Brilliant Pebbles at $16 billion, based on the fully approved Defense Acquisition Board plan from 1991. The figure includes the costs of developing, testing, deploying, and operating Brilliant Pebbles over a 20-year period using a low-to-moderate risk, event-driven acquisition schedule. Many would agree that $16 billion dollars is a small price to pay for the protection of the U.S. and its allies from ballistic missile attack and nuclear devastation


Might bump the price up though, lol.

Hope you don't mind if I butt in a little, but depending on your definition of PMT Controllable Fusion could be PMT as there have been several breakthroughs in the field recently.

bump for wagdog and vetaka.

@ Droskianishk: Thanks. But it is "closed"...

bump for wagdog and vetaka.

@ Droskianishk: Thanks. But it is "closed"...

Closed usually refers to IC threads, this is OOC so its more useful if you have people adding comments, etc.

Closed usually refers to IC threads, this is OOC so its more useful if you have people adding comments, etc.

Yeah, well I jsut dont want a bunch of people coming in here and ripping us or bombarding us with questions. We can do without insults, and the questions can wait until we have finished.

Also, can Excalibur be used on buildings? I don't see why not, unless it needs to hit something explosive. In that case just aim for the backup power generators or furnaces...

Almost certainly, but that would draw retaliation against the system for sure. Unless, of course, the power level is low enough (going by the article, though IIRC Ulysses was supposedly one major asteroid) for that not to be practical. From what I remember of playing against it in the game and also judging from the sheer size of the thing (and thus the amount of chemicals used, the probable power level input, and thus accounting for inefficiencies the power level output thereof), however, I'd say I wouldn't want to be in an apartment or larger if this baby ever hit my city...:eek:

Almost certainly, but that would draw retaliation against the system for sure. Unless, of course, the power level is low enough (going by the article, though IIRC Ulysses was supposedly one major asteroid) for that not to be practical. From what I remember of playing against it in the game and also judging from the sheer size of the thing (and thus the amount of chemicals used, the probable power level input, and thus accounting for inefficiencies the power level output thereof), however, I'd say I wouldn't want to be in an apartment or larger if this baby ever hit my city...:eek:

Lol. I was wondering if you could use the reflector satellites to aim the beam and knock only 1 building down. Presicion destruction, like a smart bomb, except with even less collateral damage. But people would probably claim thats god-modding, even if feasible.

just like to say Fusion is perfectly realistic for PMT on something of this size; if the IETR and the DEMO reactors work as they should we might see the first Fusion reactors online by as early as 2015-2020 with a Q of 10 or higher; the Japanese DEMO reactor specifically is supposed to have an output of 6000 GW per second.

Lol. I was wondering if you could use the reflector satellites to aim the beam and knock only 1 building down. Presicion destruction, like a smart bomb, except with even less collateral damage. But people would probably claim thats god-modding, even if feasible.
Actually, that's what I was referring to.:p The qualification came from the fact that the only real defense against an Excalibur is to either take it out preemptively (or reactively), or else hide; both tough to do for an unarmed civilian building of course. However, there would be collateral damage even if just from the building's collapse; not accounting for that would be a godmod as well as just plain bad physics too. If you go down through the building, you'll probably need to hit the boiler room to do much and in that case it's back to 'KABOOM' and more-extensive collateral damage than if you sliced the building to collapse instead. Tricky...

just like to say Fusion is perfectly realistic for PMT on something of this size; if the IETR and the DEMO reactors work as they should we might see the first Fusion reactors online by as early as 2015-2020 with a Q of 10 or higher; the Japanese DEMO reactor specifically is supposed to have an output of 6000 GW per second.

thanks man. So i geuss we can use that to help power, but the solar power also helps.

Actually, that's what I was referring to.:p The qualification came from the fact that the only real defense against an Excalibur is to either take it out preemptively (or reactively), or else hide; both tough to do for an unarmed civilian building of course. However, there would be collateral damage even if just from the building's collapse; not accounting for that would be a godmod as well as just plain bad physics too. If you go down through the building, you'll probably need to hit the boiler room to do much and in that case it's back to 'KABOOM' and more-extensive collateral damage than if you sliced the building to collapse instead. Tricky...

Yeah, so... stick to military bases. Then we can destroy the building and say screw the collateral damage, its only soldiers.

Hmmm, deadline has passed and no Vetaka.

Lols, its aight man. Take your time. But an update would be nice.

I am glad this has been bumped lol ive been looking forward ok so here goes:

Update 1: (21st May 2007/ 23:43)

Subject: Laser System/Power System

Due to constraints of MT technology I believe it would be more plausible to employ a Chemical Based Laser System as a opposed to a Plasma Based one. Ill be honest my knowledge of Chemical Science and Chemical Biology is not the best the world. However aftear reading mountains of articles and many text books this is what I have come up with. I propose the Excalibur System use a Deuterium Fluoride Laser. As a result of this modification it will push the Excalibur System into the late MT and early PMT realm.

The Laser itself would be produced by using the same sort of technology used in a Hydrogen Fluoride Laser except the Hydrogen would be replaced with Deuterium this being known as Heavy Hydrogen. For a more detailed of explanation search wikipedia for Deuterium.

Anyway as to power the whole system I recommend it provisonally use nuclear means I am thinking at least 6 Nuclear Reactors. However due to fact that the weapon system is to be built close to the ocean or a Dam in order to provide the required cooling system. Its possible to provide some power by Solar, Wind and Tidal terms. Obviously the Weapon could not be powered alone by these Eco Means but its a start.

Ok thats my first update I have a few questions id Like answering if its not to much trouble.

1) Is a detailed explanation required as to how the laser works?
2) How detailed do you want the overall Science to be?

Chemical lasers do not need a power source, the chemicals themselves provide the power, as opposed to solid state lasers. That's why most lasers now a days [THEL, Zeus, Airborne ABML] have been chemical lasers, solid state just requires too much electrical power.

Also, don't build a stupidly tall tower, build it on a mountain.

And, you're probably gonna have to a have a large amount of spare mirriors, as even in MT/PMT the ability to manufacture perfect mirriors would be impossible, and even tiny defects can create heat build it, and rapid heating a cooling in space will form cracks and destroy mirrors.

Tower vs Mountain-
The tower has several advantages.
A) it looks cool.
B) The tower allows for this, whereas the mountain doesn't. built into the cannon were seven large cooling towers, this allowed rapid dumping of waste heat and allowed the cannon to recover to normal firing conditions in under thirty seconds, posing a threat to missiles launched in waves to avoid Excaliburs blast.

Sotage-
Also, it appears that we are going to need storage vats for the Deuterium, so we need to consider that.

Power-
If you build your complex near a river or ocean, then hydro power is viable. I figure we can take as much advantage of the enviornment as possible. The lake we create to help cool the laser will have to be a dammed river. The dam will supply hydro power, then we can lay out solar panels and stuff, build the converters underground in my opinion, build wind turbines, etc. And yes Isuppose we can have a few nuclear power plants if neccessary. And if the laser doesn't need power, I say screw the nuclear plants. Keep the other stuff to power everything else, like electronics and stuff. If necessary, we can build power plants later.

Hey Vetaka, one of the guys from the Draftroom showed this to me:

http://orbital.weapon.system.googlepages.com/CopyofDEW.PDF

I know the tower is not in orbit, but the science is relatively the same.

OK, to get some life back into this thread before it's too late, I think we're getting close to done here. Excellent PDF Kampf, credit to whoever showed it to you; in fact, tell them that they can drop by this thread for a word if they’d like. I haven't read all of it yet, but it should really help us put a wattage on this baby and its companion smaller lasers if we must. Can we agree on the following rewrite for the basic Excalibur package?

Composition

1 Strategic Tower Laser System (STLS) Chemical Laser, power level TBD but large...
4 Railway Tactical Laser Systems for point air defense, power level TBD but medium...
200 Orbital Platforms (Offense/Defense/Reflector satellites)
800 Anti-Air/Spacecraft missiles (4 per platform, preferably Vetakan OBSAT-modified AIM-47 Falcons...)
800 ABM Interceptor Missiles (4 per platform, preferably Vetakan OBSAT-style suicide drones...)
1 Control Platform (Datalinked to ground control base in case of destruction by enemy ASAT action...)
4 Jammer Platforms (Datalinked to ground jammer bases near the STLS tower site in case of destruction by enemy ASAT action…)
$800 Billion USD

The other packages should scale accordingly, with a ratio of four RTLS trains and orbital/ground jammers per STLS tower being maintained. However, prices for individual platforms, towers, trains and bases should be determined so customers can craft their own “custom packages” if desired. Case in point, the national packages I bought for myself and Vetaka, each having three STLS towers plus the extra platforms to compensate for the increased firing workload.

Capabilities

~10 Second standard bursts for STLS laser(s). (source: Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, Mission 8 “Merlon” and Mission 9 “Sword of Annihilation”...)
~5 Second standard bursts for RTLS lasers. (source: d/o)
Boost-phase ballistic missile defense capability at global ranges, due to reflector satellite network enabling indirect laser fire onto missile sites and airspace above...
Midcourse-phase BMD capability, through direct laser fire (545 mile slant range) and interceptor missile launches against incoming missile waves...
Orbital Air Defense capability, through tangential laser fire (750 mile slant range) when bounced off one reflector platform into space or across edge of atmosphere; and also through launch of defensive missiles…
Global range antiaircraft capability using multipe reflector platforms to achieve indirect laser fire, especially against mass formations and/or large aicraft...
Long-range (545 miles) antiaircraft capability using direct laser fire; again, best against mass formations and/or large aircraft...
Antishipping capability against lightly armored or unarmored targets (Kirov CGN grade and below), preferably through indirect laser fire against ships' weaker deck protection using reflector platforms; although direct fire is theoretically possible (I'm just trying to avoid an Eralineta-style mistake here), depending on where Excalibur is sited in the operating country...

Using Excalibur as an "anti-capital" (much less "anti-supercapital":rolleyes:) doesn't strike me as feasible anymore since the power levels required would simply be too high, even for PMT; although a 10 second STLS burst could probably ‘mission kill’ a capital ship by frying the CIWS and electronics systems. However, using Excalibur to pwn modern-style escort flotillas and aircraft formations strikes me as perfectly reasonable:D, since both are essentially massed unarmored targets. Hell, if ASW recon is good enough we might even be able to emulate Arkbird from AC5 and kill/damage subs with this thing, since those aren't normally armored either and it's a blue laser (hence wavelength being compatible with the ocean IIRC). That would involve datalinking sonar readings back to Excalibur and targeting quickly enough, but in principle it should be doable. This all sound good, guys?

You aren't going to be doing anything to ANY kind of ship in MT.

You lose massive amounts of power with every mirror reflection. Let alone going in and out of the atmosphere.

A ground based US chemical laser needs to be 400MW to intercept something outside the atmosphere with one mirror bounce, and that's only against an unshielded ballistic missile booster.

This is also 40mw against in a few meter or so sized area, because beam spread becomes worse with range.

Also, lasers work through HEAT only, you won't be shorting out anything, unless you use a microwave laser, and you can't reflect those.

Destroying a missile inside the atmosphere would need over a gigawatt laser to account for beamspread and targeting at that range, to achieve any type of kill with a large dewell time.

To kill flocks of missiles would be almost physically impossible, to get ACZ type effects you need something with a beam spread of over 50m most likely, and be capable of dealing a lethal amount of energy per cm^2 out[10kJ/cm^2 against a non-shield, non-spinning booster]. Most likely something capable of putting at least 20 or so gigawatts of energy out, it's frankly, impossible in MT, especially at that range.

It'd be even more impossible to engage aircraft formations with said laser, as you'd need dwell time much larger then missiles and bigger beamspread, hiking up the power requirements.

Trying to engage surface ships would be hidieously stupid, especially formations of them. You'd need gigawatts of energy from the emitter to accout for beamspread, loss of energy through the atmosphere and from bouncing.

Also, you guys really don't know much do you? A laser emitter needs to be big, even 1MW ones were like 5m wide. A 20MW one needs to be 10m to be effective against missiles. A little tiny emitter in the tip top of a tower just won't work. You'd destroy your mirror while putting gigawatts of energy through it, as well as not being able to adjust for beamspread while exiting the atmosphere[something you can do with an array of many mirrors].

For instance, in the Pdf, they say a ground based 400mw laser would need 50,000 mirrors to account for beam distortion through the atmosphere.

Ditch the laser, spend the money else where, it's useless in MT.

Ditch the laser, spend the money else where, it's useless in MT.

1st I'm PMT.
2nd, I dont care anymore, those who need details have TGs.

1st I'm PMT.
2nd, I dont care anymore, those who need details have TGs.

Then don't expect anyone credible to accept this.