• About Us
  • Activity
  • Advertising
  • Books
  • Business
  • Contact
  • Dashboard
  • EB5
  • Entertainment
  • feedback
  • Forgot Your Password?
  • Government
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • Login
  • Members
  • Meme generator
  • National
  • Nevada
  • Nevada News and Views
  • Newsmax
  • NN&V Ads
  • Opinion
  • Pick a New Password
  • Politics
  • Polls
  • Privacy Policy
  • Profile
  • Recent comments by me
  • Recent comments on my posts
  • Register
  • Submit post
  • Subscribe
  • Subscription Confirmation
  • Survey
  • Survey
  • Terms of Service
  • Today’s Top 10
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Welcome!
  • Yop Poll Archive
Nevada News and Views
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact
  • More
    • Nevada
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Travel
    • News
    • Sports
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Pinterest

  • RSS

Technology

The Army Is About To Deploy One Of The Most Powerful Laser Weapons In Existence

The Army Is About To Deploy One Of The Most Powerful Laser Weapons In Existence
N&V Staff
March 19, 2017

A laser weapon system readies to fire on its target. (Courtesy: Youtube)

(Russ Read, The Daily Caller New Foundation) – The U.S. Army is about to make a technological leap as it prepares to field a small, yet ultra-powerful laser weapon system.

Lockheed Martin announced it had completed the design, development and demonstration of the Army’s new laser in a press release Thursday. The 60-kilowatt laser is one of the most powerful of its kind, and could be delivered to the Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Ala., in a matter of months.

“Delivery of this laser represents an important milestone along the path to fielding a practical laser weapon system,” said Vice President Paula Hartley, head of Advanced Product Solutions within Lockheed’s cyber, ships, and advanced technologies line, in a statement. “This milestone could not have been achieved without close partnership between the U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin; we are pleased to be able to deliver this system for their further integration and evaluation.”

Laser weapons are nothing new to the U.S. military. The Navy announced in January it plans to mount laser weapons, known as LaWS in military jargon, on ships within the next two years.

The Army’s weapon is revolutionary because it pushes the limits of modern science to create one of the most powerful lasers of its kind. Lockheed’s weapon is known as a fiber laser, meaning it brings together individual laser beams generated through fiber optics to create “a single, intense laser beam.”

You can watch some of Lockheed’s laser tests in the video below.

WATCH:

While not as powerful as the Navy’s huge 150 kW weapon, the Army laser is much smaller, so it can be deployed on Army vehicles. Not only that, the design is scalable, so more individual lasers can be added to create an even more powerful weapon.

“The inherent scalability of this beam combined laser system has allowed us to build the first 60kW-class fiber laser for the U.S. Army,” said Robert Afzal, senior fellow for Laser and Sensor Systems at Lockheed Martin. “We have shown that a powerful directed energy laser is now sufficiently light-weight, low volume and reliable enough to be deployed on tactical vehicles for defensive applications on land, at sea and in the air.”

To put the weapon’s power into perspective, consider this: Lockheed was able to use a 30 kW weapon, known as ATHENA, to disable a truck from a mile away. With double that power, Army units will be able to defend from “swarms of drones or large numbers of rockets and mortars,” according to Lockheed.

The timing of the project could not be better, as U.S. enemies across the world are rapidly advancing drone capabilities. Even Islamic State has been able to deploy drones to significant effect on the battlefield.

 

Content originally published at The Daily Caller.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Prev postNext post

Related ItemsTechnology
Technology
March 19, 2017
N&V Staff

Related ItemsTechnology

More in Technology

Citizen Outreach Joins Opposition to WA Tele-Medicine Ban Bill

N&V StaffFebruary 7, 2020
Read More

Online privacy law takes effect in Nevada

The Center SquareOctober 22, 2019
Read More

Report gives Nevada manufacturing industry health low marks

The Center SquareAugust 14, 2019
Read More

How to Fight Liberal Social Media Bias without Crippling the First Amendment

N&V StaffJune 23, 2019
Read More

Talking About an Open Internet

N&V StaffJuly 20, 2017
Read More

Caught Napping, Print Newspapers are Running to Congress for a Bailout

N&V StaffJuly 11, 2017
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Subscribe Free By Email

Looking for the best in breaking news and conservative views? Let Chuck do all the work for you! Subscribe to his FREE "Muth's Truths" e-newsletter.

* indicates required
Nevada News and Views
Nevada News & Views is an educational project of Citizen Outreach Foundation, a non-partisan IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. It is not associated or affiliated with any political party or group. Nevada News & Views is accessible by the public at no cost. It funds its operations through tax-deductible contributions from donors and supporters and does not accept government money or grants.

TAGS

Featured Article Nevada Politics business Muth's Truths government Opinion Government Muth’s Truths Obama Ron Knecht News Donald Trump GOP Republicans

Copyright © 2022 Citizen Outreach | Maintained by VirtualAlly

Police Are Using Fake Facebook Accounts To Track Gun Supporters, Says Lawyer
The 10 highest-paying tech jobs in America in 2017