US Navy successfully tests a laser weapon that can destroy aerial drone

A US Navy warship has successfully tested a new high-energy laser weapon that can destroy aerial drone aircraft mid-flight, the Navy's Pacific Fleet said in a statement Friday.

Navy ships face an increasing number of threats in conducting their missions, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, armed small boats, and adversary intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

At the time, Lt. Cale Hughes, a laser weapons system officer, described how they work.

"It is throwing massive amounts of photons at an incoming object," Hughes said. "We don't worry about wind, we don't worry about range, we don't worry about anything else. We're able to engage the targets at the speed of light."

"By conducting advanced at sea tests against UAVs and small crafts, we will gain valuable information on the capabilities of the Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator against potential threats," Capt. Karrey Sanders, commanding officer of Portland, said in the statement.

Source : CNN & Hindustan Times