Via CSMonitor.com:
The Army has, for the first time, used a truck-mounted laser weapon to stop a barrage of 90 incoming mortars and several drones in mid-flight.
Defense officials at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command hailed it as a “big step” in the development of targeted, high-energy laser beams that might also one day be used to defend US airspace against, for example, fighter-jet or cruise-missile attacks.
Click the link to see more: Army successfully tests truck-mounted laser to stop mortars, drones – CSMonitor.com
Points:
- “The circumference of the laser beam is about the size of a quarter.”
- “In an era of belt-tightening around the Pentagon, the laser weapons are also cheap to operate, say Army officials, who estimate that the ‘cost per shot’ is about a cup of diesel fuel.”
- “The Army says its next step will be to field-test 50- and 100-kilowatt laser beams. A 100-kilowatt laser beam can destroy a target in one-tenth of the time as the 10-kilowatt laser that the military just tested.”