
The Navy Is Arming Nuclear Subs with Lasers. No One Knows Why - Anon84
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a30647372/laser-nuclear-subs/
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tropo
Once GPS is destroyed, a great way to navigate would be via the laser
reflectors that were left on the Moon.

Many long-dead satellites also have them. You just need to receive an update
on the orbit, which could come via VLF signals.

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hindsightbias
Laser communications above and below, so even submariners can watch netflix.

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LinuxBender
Perhaps putting subs in position around the world to knock out nuclear
missiles in the sky, or even low altitude ICBM's like the ones Putin was
talking about?

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Arnt
Submarines are portable, which means they have limited electrical power, and
they are submarine, which means that they are a hundred kilometers below those
missiles.

Shining a light that's strong enough to be harmful a hundred kilometers away
requires a lot of power.

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LinuxBender
True, but they are nuclear powered [1] and short burst lasers can use
capacitor banks for burst energy. 20MW should charge up large capacitor banks
quickly. Not being an expert on laser weapons, I can't say if that is enough
to damage an ICBM.

[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_marine_propulsion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_marine_propulsion)

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Arnt
Are these submarines large enough to have that space? Do they even have space
enough for one bed per crew member?

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LinuxBender
Some of them hold quite a few missiles. Yes, some of the subs are quite
massive. There are some fairly recent pictures on google images.

