The toy-like drones destroyed during an Army field exercise at Fort Sill, Okla., last month weren't anything special; however, the way they were brought down -- zapped out of the sky by lasers mounted on a Stryker armored vehicle -- might grab people's attention.
The first soldier to try out the lasers was Spc. Brandon Sallaway, a forward observer with the 4th Infantry Division. He used a Mobile Expeditionary High Energy Laser to shoot down an 18-by-10-inch drone at 650 yards, an Army statement said.
"It's nothing too complicated but you have to learn how to operate each system and get used to the controls which is exactly like a video game controller," said Sallaway, who hadn't fired a laser before the exercise.
The drone-killing laser was relatively low energy -- only 5 kilowatts -- but the Army has tested much more powerful weapons. A 30-kilowatt truck-mounted High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator shot down dozens of mortar rounds and several drones in November 2013 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
Since then, researchers have made rapid advances in laser weapons, said Bob Ruszkowski, who works on air dominance projects and unmanned systems in Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works facility.
"We're really on the cusp of seeing the introduction of lasers in future systems," he said.
Which do you prefer, lasers or plasma weapons?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Wednesday May 31 2017, @02:26PM
I read the story a long time ago and found it entertaining but ridiculous, as with much of HG Wells work. Seriously - it's trivially easy to prove that vision exists (I can tell how many fingers you're holding up from across the room!), and if everyone else actively refuses to believe you, you still have the option of just shutting up about it and quietly using your "psychic powers" to give yourself a major advantage.
And why would you bother trying to describe a powerful extra sense to those who will never experience it and do not know the lack in the first place? Seems like a pretty jerk move by a guy who just wants to be recognized as special rather than actually using his gift for something useful. The one-eyed man isn't king because the blind exalt him for his difference, he can become king because he has incredible powers of perception far beyond what anyone else can wield.