The Future is Here! Laser Weapon Takes Out Truck’s Engine
Warfare has come a long, long way since the invention of the bow and arrow. We’re now to the point where laser weaponry is being tested for use in the field. Lockheed Martin has a 30-kW fiber laser weapon system that they tested on a running truck engine and drive-train. The weapon system managed to disable the entire truck within a few seconds, reports the press release.
The field test used the Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) ground-based prototype, single-mode laser, which is based on their Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) laser weapon system. Lockheed managed to incorporate the 30-kW Accelerated Laser Demonstration Initiative (ALADIN) fiber laser developed by the company.
The company has said ATHENA uses what they’re calling a Spectrum Beam Combing. Laser weapons like this have been tested in the past, but Lockheed believes their system can acquire, track, and destroy targets. As a tactical weapon, however, the company currently lacks a modern, compact design for field use.
Lockheed senior fellow, Rob Afzal, says the limit to the size of laser weapons is more of an economical issue instead of technological. A 500-kW laser is entirely possibly, and it would be capable of taking out a cruise missile in flight. The industry is becoming revolutionary for directed energy weapons systems, and this recent test is the first step towards a mobile, lightweight laser weapon system.
