(The Sun) – Heavily armored vehicles loaded with laser cannons will be deployed by the US Army within the next three years. The upcoming weapon systems each chew through enough energy to power several homes and can take down drones, helicopters and incoming missiles.
Officially known as “directed energy lasers”, they’ll hit battlefields in the year 2022 attached to a platoon of four vehicles, an army report stated. “The time is now to get directed energy weapons to the battlefield,” Lt. Gen. L. Neil Thurgood, Director of Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space, and Rapid Acquisition, said in the report.
Army researchers have worked on the weapon for several years. High energy lasers travel at the speed of light and are one way the Army plans to defend itself from new aerial threats, according to an Army release. The extreme temperatures they produce are able to simply melt enemy craft in an instant. READ MORE
