For several years, the U.S. Army has been working on defense systems capable of intercepting small aircraft or missiles from a distance to protect fixed and mobile buildings or troops.

The idea is to use a laser to focus a hot spot on a flying device, incapacitating it, blowing it up, or changing its course before it becomes a threat. The primary goal is to have defense systems that can be installed on warships or around official buildings.

The advantages of these systems over conventional anti-aircraft batteries are compactness, no conventional cartridges, greater range, maintaining a smaller footprint in a theater, and greater accuracy. .

The U.S. Navy therefore conducted a test that successfully shot down a large drone designed to simulate a subsonic missile. The laser used successfully neutralized the drone’s engine.

Fire a beam of light for a dollar each. One of the advantages mentioned by the US Navy is that the cartridge-less device avoids the risk of the ammunition detonating on damage or impact.

The deployed system consists of a laser from Boeing called GA-EMS (General Atom Electromagnetic System) technology, which combines multiple lenses to focus and amplify the laser beam. Everything is linked to high-resolution telescopes powered by artificial intelligence, which makes it possible to locate and target threats, known as LLD, Layered Laser Defense.

The latter tended to generate less heat and provided more power than the previously tested laser guns.