According to media reports, the Air Force Research Laboratory recently disclosed to the media that it is seeking to equip US fighter jets with viable laser pointer weapons by 2020. "This is really an important turning point." Kelly Hammett, chief engineer of the Institute's Directed Energy Room, told CNN reporters a few days ago, "We see that technology is constantly evolving and maturing to reach a truly usable stage. "
As early as a year ago, the Navy announced that it had successfully tested a new laser weapon earlier that year and claimed that this weapon could accurately strike targets. A video released by the Office of Naval Research shows the deployment and testing of this laser weapon system on the Navy’s USS Ponce.
The test video showed that a speedboat exploded and caught fire after being hit by a laser, and a drone was destroyed immediately after being irradiated. This is the first solid-state laser weapon deployed by the Navy, marking that the long-term development of the military's laser weapon is about to be put into actual combat.
To this end, the military took the opportunity to make a high-profile statement that "This is the first deployment of a directed energy weapon in historical records." Although there are too many people talking about this weapon, the US Navy has decided to put it into practice. Rear Admiral Clonde, head of naval research, said that this powerful laser weapon system will play a vital role in future naval operations. And claimed, "For decades, the Pentagon has always said that the era of laser weapons is coming, and now it is finally coming."
In 1960, the first ruby laser was born in the laboratory of physicist Theodore Mayman. The emergence of this product makes it possible to use a green laser pointer beam to attack the target in a certain direction. A laser weapon is a directed energy weapon. According to different combat purposes, it can be divided into two categories: tactical laser weapons and strategic laser weapons.
Among them, tactical laser weapons use lasers as energy to directly destroy enemy personnel, tanks, aircraft, etc., like conventional weapons, with a striking distance of about 20 kilometers. The strategic laser weapon is more like a "second killer" that can attack intercontinental missiles thousands of miles away, and can also attack reconnaissance satellites and communication satellites in space.