U.S. Army engineers have developed a laser weapon that has proved successful at destroying 60mm mortar rounds and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The weapon — the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator — is a product of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command – Technical Center, at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and has been tested at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
The laser is a 10-kilowatt weapon mounted on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck A4 platform. Once it locks onto a target, the laser beam literally fries it.
The laser has a high success rate in good weather, the Army said, but further work would be required for it to achieve a similar success rate in degraded weather conditions.
The Army said it plans to test a 50-kW version of the laser in 2017. A 100-kW laser will be demonstrated in 2020.
Additional details about the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator were not disclosed.
