美国陆军官员表示，士兵使用激光武器的安全规程出奇地简单：不要离目标太近，也不要直视武器。定向能武器正在获得更多实战应用，特别是在美国南部边境，陆军已将其用于对抗贩毒集团关联的无人机。该军种设想这些系统可在不同车辆上运行，且便于士兵学习和安全使用。
US Army officials say the safety protocols for soldiers using lasers are surprisingly simple: don't stand too close to the target and don't look into the weapon. Directed-energy weapons are seeing more operational use, particularly at the US southern border, where the Army has employed them against cartel-linked drones. The service envisions these systems operating on different vehicles and being easy for soldiers to learn and use safely.
在上周于华盛顿特区举行的美国陆军协会（AUSA）年会上，官员和业界合作伙伴就定向能武器的发展发表了看法。当被问及个人防护装备（PPE）以及对激光镜面反射的任何担忧时，陆军定向能项目办公室首席工程师柯克·威廉姆斯表示，相关规则在某些方面与其他武器类似。“简单直接的回答是：除非你在目标十英尺（约3米）范围内，否则镜面反射对眼睛是安全的，因此士兵不需要防激光护眼装备，”他说，并解释道，“这和其他武器系统一样：不要直视它。”
At the Association of the United States Army, or AUSA, convention last week in Washington, DC, officials and industry partners spoke on developments in directed-energy weapons. Asked about personal protective equipment, or PPE, and any concerns about specular reflection from lasers, Kirk Williams, chief engineer of the Army's directed energy project office, said the rules were similar in some respects to those for other weapons. "Well, the short and sweet of that answer is: unless you're within ten feet of the target, a specular reflection is eye-safe, so the soldiers don't need the eye protection from the laser," he said, explaining that "it's like any other weapons system: don't look into it."
“我们对士兵使用M-16步枪也是这么说的。不要往枪管里看。激光也是一样，不要往枪管里看。”
"We tell the soldiers the same thing about an M-16. Don't look down the barrel. Same thing with lasers, don't look down the barrel."
镜面反射是指光线从表面反弹。在激光武器的情况下，反射光可能从被瞄准的车辆或无人机上反弹。虽然目标会吸收大部分能量，但部分反射光可能会散射，导致目标附近士兵的眼睛或皮肤受损。威廉姆斯表示，陆军青睐这些武器的部分原因在于其对士兵的风险相对较低，且对防护装备的需求有限。“它们是安全的，”他说，并补充道，“激光的优点在于我们还能瞬间将其关闭。”这些武器还设有保护措施，如果存在击中非预期目标的风险，就会自动关闭。
Specular reflections occur when light bounces off a surface. In the case of a laser weapon, reflected light can bounce off a targeted vehicle or drone. While the target absorbs most of the energy, some reflections might stray and cause eye or skin damage to soldiers near the target. Williams said that part of the reason the Army likes these weapons is their relatively low risk to soldiers and the limited need for protective gear. "They are safe," he said, adding that "the great thing about a laser is we can also turn them off instantaneously." The weapons also have safeguards that shut them down if there is a risk of hitting something other than the intended target.
在小组讨论中，威廉姆斯等人还谈到了陆军部署更多激光武器的优先事项，这是陆军乃至更广泛的美军日益重视的一个领域。防御火力能力项目执行官盖伊·耶尔弗顿准将表示，该军种希望将高能激光集成到“车队中的任何车辆”上。他表示，陆军的“持久高能激光”（E-HEL）安装在滑橇上，使其能够集成到多种类型的车辆上。
During the panel, Williams and others also talked about the Army's priorities for deploying more laser weapons, an area of growing importance for the Army and the broader US military. Brig. Gen. Guy Yelverton, the capability program executive for defensive fires, said the service wants to integrate high-energy lasers onto "any vehicle in the motorpool." He said the Army's Enduring High Energy Laser, or E-HEL, is mounted on a sled, allowing it to be integrated onto multiple types of vehicles.
E-HEL是陆军的一种定向能武器计划，使用AeroVironment公司的LOCUST激光系统。耶尔弗顿表示，使武器兼容不同车辆并可供不同军事专业的士兵使用，将使陆军能够更广泛地部署它们。这位将军表示，这种灵活性将使陆军能够在“所有陆军编制”中部署激光武器，让指挥官在部署地点和操作人员选择上拥有更多选项。
The E-HEL is an Army directed-energy weapon program using AeroVironment's LOCUST laser system. Yelverton said that making weapons compatible with different vehicles and usable by soldiers across military specialties will allow the Army to deploy them more widely. The general said that this flexibility would allow the Army to deploy laser weapons "across all Army formations," giving commanders more options for where to put them and which soldiers should operate them.
“这是一个令人愉快的两难选择，”他说。官员们还表示，普及这些武器的部分工作是使其易于训练。“我们大多数训练课程只需五分钟左右就能训练某人使用该系统并开始击落目标，”威廉姆斯说，并补充道，使用类似Xbox手柄的标准控制器使其操作直观。陆军在南部边境对激光武器和其他反无人机系统的测试，强化了这样一个观点：美国将需要分层防御来应对各种无人机威胁。贩毒集团越来越多地使用无人机支持行动，陆军已经用激光击落了一些无人机。
"It's a great dilemma to have," he said. Officials also said part of disseminating the weapons is making them easy to train on. "Most of our training sessions, we can train somebody in like, five minutes, to be able to use this system and start shooting things down," Williams said, adding that using standard controllers like those for an Xbox made it intuitive. The Army's testing of laser weapons and other counter-drone systems at the southern border has reinforced the idea that the US will need layered defenses to counter a range of drone threats. Drug cartels are increasingly using drones to support operations, and the Army has already used lasers to shoot some down.