Laser weapon

Star Wars becomes more than a film franchise title as the British government moves to protect the country's satellites from laser attacks. The £500,000 (US$670,000) investment for new sensor systems is part of a broader strategic realignment.

Australian defense company Electro Optic Systems (EOS) has unveiled its Apollo High Energy Laser Weapon (HELW) that pumps out up to 150 kW of power yet can take out 200 medium-sized drones running on its own internal power supply.

When is a laser weapon not a weapon? When it's the ASELSAN YILDIRIM 100 Directed Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) System that doesn't actually destroy incoming infrared missiles, but instead blinds them before they have a chance to lock on target.

The age of laser weapons looks to have officially dawned. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems says that, for the first time in history, a high-energy laser system has been used to destroy multiple drone targets in combat.

The US Navy is helping to eliminate the need for a human operator to counter drone swarm attacks. An effort led by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) used AI to make laser weapons better able to target and destroy multiple drone attacks.

Drones have another weapon in the arsenal thanks to "Crazy Li" Xiao: lasers. Not just lasers, but ones powerful enough to vaporize human tissue on contact and cut through metal.

For the first time, British Army regular troops have operated a high-powered laser weapon mounted on an armored combat vehicle. Soldiers from 16 Royal Artillery in Wales used a laser installed on a Wolfhound combat vehicle to engage aerial targets.

In another step toward practical battlefield energy weapons, the UK has for the first time tested a laser weapon mounted on a British Army Wolfhound armored vehicle as part of the Land Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) Demonstrator program.

The Australian Department of Defence has demonstrated what is not only the country's first laser weapon, but what is billed as the world’s most powerful portable high-energy laser, capable of taking down drones with ground-breaking precision.

A new directed energy weapon is being rolled out to bolster British defense capabilities. And, at 13 cents a shot, it's just as effective, but a lot cheaper than the multi-million dollar missiles it's designed to replace.

In a newly declassified video, the $127 million DragonFire high-power laser weapon can be seen spectacularly blasting through mortar rounds and shooting down drones. It's the best look we've had yet of the top-secret battlefield game-changer.

Britain has fired its Dragonfire high-powered laser weapon at aerial targets for the first time. The test of the Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) on the Ministry of Defence's Hebrides Range was designed to demonstrate its power and accuracy.