[Laser] Lockheed Martin successfully field tests 30KW laser weapon

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http://www.smnweekly.com/lockheed-martin-successfully-field-tests-new-laser-weapon/19804/

Lockheed Martin successfully field tests new laser weapon

By David M. DeMar / March 6, 2015

Defense and security technology Lockheed Martin has successfully 
field tested the Advanced Test High Energy Asset weapon system, 
sending a high-powered laser straight through a truck.
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ATHENA ,which fires 30-kilowatt lasers generated by fiber optics, was 
able to disable the engine of the truck during the recent 
demonstration. It was the highest power laser blast ever used by this 
particular type of laser weapon; Lockheed Martin said that the 
purpose of the test was to highlight innovative weapon designs that 
can provide both power and precision.

The chief technology officer for the company, Keoki Jackson, said in 
a statement that fiber optic lasers have the potential to 
revolutionize direct energy systems. Lockheed Martin has invested in 
every one of the system's components, which include the power 
efficiencies,  weight and drive size of the laser itself but the beam 
control and the optics, Jackson added.

The ground-based prototype was tested by firing at the stationary 
truck from over a mile away. The laser burned through the vehicle's 
engine in just a few seconds. The power of the laser comes from a 
technique known as "spectral beam combination," which uses a 
multitude of fiber laser modules to construct one cohesive beam that 
Lockheed Martin says can provide higher level lethality and 
efficiency than other systems that use multiple individual 10-kilowatt lasers.
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Jackson says that the demonstration highlights the kinds of defense 
technologies that Lockheed Martin is interested in developing in the 
future. The chief technology officer remarked that the next step will 
be to provide both rugged and lightweight laser weapon systems to the 
military, which could be mounted on trucks, ships, and aircraft such 
as helicopters.

The US military is quite keen on the research and development of 
laser-based weaponry. In fact, the Office of Naval Research is 
purportedly constructing a laser weapon that can be used to shoot 
unmanned aerial vehicles from the sky from a safe distance. The US 
Navy has also tested a 30-kilowatt laser similar to the Lockheed 
Martin device in late 2014 aboard a ship in the Persian Gulf.