Laser weapon

In the past couple of years, both bomb-carrying balloons and brush fire-causing flaming kites have been launched from Gaza into neighboring Israel. A new system uses lasers to shoot them down, and it could even be used to neutralize drones.

The US Navy has successfully installed its first Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) laser weapon aboard one of its warships. During dry-dock operations, the destroyer USS Dewey received the stand-alone laser system designed to blind drone sensors.

Lockheed Martin's Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) laser weapon, which is being developed for the US Air Force, engaged and destroyed multiple drone threats in a recent field test at a US government test range at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

The US Air Force has taken delivery of its first high-energy laser for shooting down Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Built by Raytheon, it will be used in overseas deployments as part of a year-long experiment.

The UK's Ministry of Defence has ordered three laser and radio-frequency weapons demonstrators. It promises £130 million (US$162 million) to test and evaluate the next generation of Directed Energy Weapons with field trials expected to begin in 2023 on Royal Navy ships and British Army vehicles.

The US Marine Corps wants a new vehicle-mobile laser weapon system that is not only non-lethal to disorient and cause pain without injury, but can yell at people as far away as 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

The US Army is moving forward with a new 100-kW laser weapon, awarding US$10 million to Lockheed Martin and Dynetics to continue development of the High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator, the latest in the effort to produce incrementally more powerful and accurate directed energy weapons.

China says that it has developed a laser rifle that can "carbonize" human flesh at a range of 800 m (2,625 ft), yet weighs only 3 kg (6.6 lb) and can burn hair, skins, and signs, and even penetrate and set fire to fuel tanks.

When the first laser was invented, the idea of using it as a superweapon seemed like science fiction. Prototypes have been built, but the revolutionary destructive ray that would change the face of battle as fundamentally as the longbow or the airplane has yet to appear. Why? Let's find out.

An energy weapon system built by Raytheon clocked up an impressive score as it took out 45 UAVs and drones. Part of this year's Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment, the test involved a directed energy weapon that combines Raytheon's high-power microwave beam and High Energy Laser (HEL) systems.

Lockheed Martin has won a US$150 million contract with options for another US$942 million to develop and manufacture two high-energy laser weapons for the US Navy. The new systems will combine Lockheed's first-of-a-kind HELIOS system for defense against UAVs with long-range ISR capabilities.

In a move that could revolutionize aerial combat, the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) has awarded Lockheed Martin a US$26.3 million contract to design, develop, and produce a high-power laser weapon that the AFRL wants to install and test on a tactical fighter jet by 2021.