[NotSoFast]

Dear Fellow Newell Owners, During this summers travels in the west I was confounded by a mark which I found on my drivers side window. At first I thought it was some kind of scuff but under close inspection it appears to be the result of having been hit with a rather powerful laser. While this sounds far fetched, the resultant damage has all the telling traits of such an impact. The mark is actually two separate sets of marks. One being on the outside of the glass and the other being an almost exact duplicate pattern on the inside of the glass. It also has the stippled type of spot pattern which laser produce due to there coherent nature. As I cleaned my glass before leaving on each days journey I can fix this damage as having happened somewhere around the Utah and Arizona border. Having had many years of experience in lasers in industry and in school I thought it might initially have been some individual who obtained a system out of an old cutting system, however the pattern was too regular and well formed and powerful enough to etch both sides of my window.

I sent pictures of the damage to a friend who was involved in air combat missions and he sent me back a technical ad showing a new laser targeting system used by the military. Below is the link to the site he thought fit the description.

https://www.raytheon.com/news/feature/high_energy_laser

Now here is the wild part of the story. While visiting Newell this past month, I was speaking with one of the men who moves coaches around the country for Newell and discussed the event. He mentioned that he had something similar happen to him only he was confounded by its cause and thought he might have somehow caused the damage. I showed him my damage and he thought his was of the same type.  Upon inspection of the various coaches which were presently at the factory a total of 9 coaches have been found to have damage I believe were laser caused. The service department also discussed having to repair coaches for damage to there paint which seemed to be of the same nature.

Many of the coaches were in the same area as mine during there travels and it would be a reasonable conclusion that during training missions the pilots are looking for moving targets to practice on, and well, a Newell is allot bigger target then a Prius. Also most of the damage is done mid location on side windows. Which from the air would be an easy area to target as they are seen as a distinct area to aim for and these systems are very accurate. Some of the impacts are actually a series of spots that are spread out over 2 or 3 feet showing the pulsed nature of the beam.

I would like to get information from anyone else on the forum who thinks they may have also suffered similar damage. If you have pictures and remember where and when it happened it would be useful. I will post how ever many pictures I can on the thread and the rest I will put into my Gallery for coach 1223.

[folivier]

Is the glass etched or is it the plastic film between the 2 layers of glass that is damaged or melted?
Very interesting.

[NotSoFast]

Both sides of the glass have been etched and can be felt by running your nail over the areas. On all of the other coaches inspected the damage was to the glass and could be felt.

[NotSoFast]

Tom,

Not to marginalize the video but its kind of a distraction from the message which is, it appears from a quick survey of coaches at the Newell site and my own that we are unwitting participants in military training missions. The level of energy necessary to do the damage discovered on glass at the distances being calculated is in the hundreds of watts. In my particular case the beam which hit my drivers side window passed in front of my face by no more than 3" or 4" These lasers are most likely I.R. and probably solid state. I am looking for people who have had damage on there own vehicles because I will be making a formal complain to the Dod and there Inspector Generals office.

Let me know if you have heard of people who have detected such damage.

Regards,

Mike

[Scott]

Tom,

Not to marginalize the video but its kind of a distraction from the message which is, it appears from a quick survey of coaches at the Newell site and my own that we are unwitting participants in military training missions. The level of energy necessary to do the damage discovered on glass at the distances being calculated is in the hundreds of watts. In my particular case the beam which hit my drivers side window passed in front of my face by no more than 3" or 4" These lasers are most likely I.R. and probably solid state. I am looking for people who have had damage on there own vehicles because I will be making a formal complain to the Dod and there Inspector Generals office.

Let me know if you have heard of people who have detected such damage.

Regards,

Mike

Military aircraft do not use combat lasers outside of combat, DoD MRTFB's, or authorized training ranges.  I highly doubt you were being lased by any military aircraft.  Even then, aircraft lasers are for designating targets for bombs, not to burn things.

And that laser you linked was tested on a military range 100 miles from anything on an unmanned stationary vehicle. When they test a weapon system like that, they have procedures, they don't just fly down the highway and burn cars for fun.

[NotSoFast]

I doubt the users of these lasers thought they were doing any damage. Most of these devices have the ability to turn them down. My guess is this is something which has gone unnoticed.

The fact that 9 coaches have been found in a casual walk around the Newell plant leads me to believe this is a common practice. Not including the past repairs of similar nature the factory has reported to me.

That is why I am asking the question in open forum. Saying it ain't so, doesn't make it so.