One of the most powerful laser weapons ever fired has successfully shot drones out of the sky from two miles away.
The groundbreaking weapon uses a high powered 50kW laser, and is powerful enough to cut through a steel girder from 1km away, yet accurate enough to hit a target the size of a mortar round.
Rheinmetall Defence, the firm who developed it, say it could eventually become commonplace on the battlefield, and are developing a smaller version that could be taken to the front line to protect troops.
The latest test was conducted at Rheinmetall’s Ochsenboden Proving Groud (EZO) in Switzerland, in snowy conditions and blinding sunlight, and engineers are already drawing up plans to double the power of the laser before its next test.
‘The demonstration delivered compelling evidence for the 50kW weapon technology,’ a spokesman said.
‘A massive, 15mm-thick steel girder was cut through at a distance of 1,000 metres, and the successful shooting down of several nose-diving target drones at a range of two kilometres formed the second major highlight.’
( via dailymail.co.uk )