US Army Plans To Arm Soldiers With Laser Weapons By 2023 Claims Official
The End Is Here: US Soldiers Will Be Using Laser Guns By 2023
Thomas Tamblyn— The Huffington Post UK
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Laser guns are no longer the realms of Star Trek and Star Wars. Instead as the technology has become cheaper and more affordable governments have realised they might just be the legitimate future of warfare.
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The shipboard laser system was designed to destroy drones and small attack boats.
Leading that charge is the US which, according to the Telegraph, will be planning to roll out large-scale laser weapons with the US Army as soon as 2023.
According to Mary J. Miller, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, the Army was well into the testing phase with both defensive and offensive weapons and was now working to 'build the trust' with the soldiers that'll be operating the weapons.
Laser weapons are actually already deployed in several parts of the US military. The US Navy has an experimental defensive laser weapon on board one of its ships.
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A remote-controlled target aircraft as it is hit by the Laser Weapon System.
One of the key advantages of directed energy weapons over conventional missiles is that they're astronomically cheap to run. For example, the Navy's laser system costs just $1 in electricity per shot.
The US Air Force and Lockheed Martin have already been testing land-based lasers which could be mounted onto a medium or large vehicle.
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The ATHENA weapon is powerful enough to disable a car's engine in seconds.
Known as Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA), Lockheed Martin's 30kw weapon is being trialled as a defensive weapon for destroying road blocks, IEDs and mines.
The hope is that as the technology becomes more compact and cheaper the army will be able to miniaturise the weapons into mounted weapons on small vehicles such as Humvees.
Lasers aren't the only experimental weapon that the US is currently working on. In conjunction with UK-based BAE Systems the US Navy will soon deploy a railgun.
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Railguns are electromagnetic weapons that use kinetic energy to cause damage to the target.
The railgun is a particularly terrifying brand of weapon because it forgoes the fire and smoke of current weapons in favour of cold, hard technology.
A single metal slug is propelled to mach 6 by a series of powerful electromagnets, there's no chemicals, no gunpowder.
The slug has no explosive tip either -- it doesn't need it -- instead its destructive power will come from the sheer speed and force with which it hits the target.
When finished the weapon will be able to fire a projectile with pinpoint accuracy over a staggering 110-nautical miles, far further than any current artillery weapon.
Advanced Warfare: 7 Tech Innovations That'll Change The Battlefield
BAE STRIKER II(01 of06)
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The Striker II is the world's most advanced Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD).The Striker uses an Oculus Rift-style Heads-Up Display that's bounced off the inside of the visor directly into the back of the eye, the brain then creates an augmented reality image so as far as you're concerned the HUD and real life become one and the same. That image can show everything from targets, to an integrated night vision overlay; effectively giving you the ability to see in the dark.
Raytheon MALD(02 of06)
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Raytheon's Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) may look like nothing more than a missile but inside its casing is the ability to do something incredible.MALD is a mimic. Able to become anything from an F-35 fighter jet to a lumbering Boeing 747 this humble decoy can fool enemy radar or an air defense system into thinking it's something entirely different.Weighing only 300 pounds and with an effective range of over 500 miles you can even launch a squadron of MALDs and deceive the enemy into thinking they're about to be attacked.Enemy defense systems would then lock onto these targets allowing the real planes to fly through unharmed.
Transformer(03 of06)
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This is Transformer, it's a concept design by BAE which predicts that in the future we'll build aircraft that can join and separate from each other.One of the biggest hurdles to overcome is the 'sticking' mechanism. How do you get two flying objects to safely become one flying object. Well project lead Nick Colosimo has revealed that all the technology needed already exists.BAE has been secretly working on a 'Gecko' material that uses the same principles as a gecko's foot to stick two objects together. Sound like science fiction? Well they've already made some, and in case you're wondering just how strong it really is, a sheet of material the size of a t-shirt could pick up a small car.
BAE Broadsword Battle Suit(04 of06)
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What at first glance appears to be just a harness is in fact the future of wearable electronics. Powered by a single universal battery located on the hip the Broadsword has no wires. Instead the harness uses 'woven electronics'. The fabric itself is able to power the attachments using a USB 2.0 configuration. You can attach cameras, radios, flashlights and even smart helmets like the Q-Sight helmet with targeting HUD. Everything is then analysed via a touchscreen battle computer which shows the power of your suit, what attachments you have and can even show live camera feed.Not only does this remove wear and tear but it makes the suit completely untraceable, because there's no wires, there's no leaked signals.
Dassault nEUROn(05 of06)
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nEUROn is a French-led European Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, it's a demonstration aircraft that Dassault hopes will pave the way for the future of drone aircraft.nEUROn is one of a handful of state-of-the-art drones that are capable of advanced combat. Whilst aircraft like the famous Predator drone can attack ground targets, nEUROn would be able to attack both land and air targets effectively making it one of the world's first automated jet fighters.
BAE Q-SIGHT(06 of06)
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This is the helmet of the future. Think of it as Google Glass, but capable of surviving nearby explosions, terrifyingly extreme conditions and being shot at.Giving the wearer a complete tactical HUD in one eye they can see through the eyes of anything that's directly linked to their suit: whether it's a surveillance satellite or a drone they've just launched.The camera on the top is an integrated night vision system, simply tap a button and your left eye can see in the dark. With smart weapon systems allowing you to fire without even looking down the sights the Q-Sight can be wirelessly connected to the gun and aimed just by looking through the HUD.