[Seahawk]

Interesting thread...laser safe issues are a huge deal in the military given lasers guided weapons, laser range finders and designators, etc.

All our systems and weapons must be certified under the laser safe program, especially for maintenance procedures and use on non-military installations.

I know that what I am referring to are not, "laser pointers" like the kind used in briefings, but the leap to more powerful, compact and capable lasers is not a stretch.

I also remembered an incident that caused a great deal of concerned among helicopter pilots. Took me awhile to find a link, but here is a brief synopsis:

His name is Lieutenant Jack Daly. He is an active duty regular U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer who, prior to his transfer to San Diego in 1998, was stationed at the Canadian Pacific Maritime Forces Command Base, Esquimalt, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. His intelligence liaison assignment with the Canadian Armed Forces was under the auspices of the Chief of Naval Operations/Intelligence Directorate (CNO/N2) Foreign Intelligence Liaison Officer (FILO) program, managed by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). Jack was wounded along with a Canadian Air Force pilot, Capt. Patrick Barnes, aboard a Canadian helicopter on 4 April, 1997, when we were lased (shot/targeted) with a laser by the Russians while on an ONI tasked surveillance flight over the Russian merchant ship KAPITAN MAN just five nautical miles north of Port Angeles, WA in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As result of this surveillance, both Capt. Barnes and Jack suffered irreparable eye injuries resulting in permanent retinal damage. Capt. Barnes has been permanently grounded from this incident and has lost all flight qualifications. He will never fly again. Both suffer constant agonizing pain in their eyes and their vision continues to worsen from this incident, with little expected relief as there is no known effective medical treatment. Pentagon spokesman, Ken Bacon, reported on 26 June 1997, that their injuries were healed. This is absolutely false!

The use of lasers to ward off surveillance is a violation of the "Certain Conventional Weapons Convention, Protocol - IV." The intelligence community has evidence that this vessel and others like her are associated with the Russian military. Under current federal law it is a felony to point lasers at aircraft. It is entirely possible that someone onboard the KAPITAN MAN was using a laser designed to record the acoustic signature of the propeller on the USS Ohio, which was outbound on the surface at the time. When they flew over the KAPITAN MAN it was turned on them knowing that it would cause harm. This was the tactic that the Russians had used numerous times in the past.