The Navy has successfully tested its shiniest new toy: the Laser Weapons System (LaWS), which recently “tracked, engaged, and destroyed” a drone in mid-flight. It’s not our first laser gun, but it’s certainly our best.
https://gizmodo.com/photo-of-boeings-matrix-laser-destroying-an-air-drone-5407603
The system is similar to the Navy’s Phalanx close-in weapons system, which mounts a radar-guided 20mm Gatling gun on a swivelling base. Except with, you know, a giant friggin laser instead of bullets. There’s no word yet on when we’ll actually deploy these, but hopefully it’ll be before enemy UAVs start perching. [Wired]
https://gizmodo.com/incredible-perching-uav-lands-on-and-takes-off-from-wal-5526462
