A Northrop Grumman photo illustration of the defense contractor’s Stryker-mounted laser weapon in action. (Northrop Grumman)
BY JARED KELLER
Pew pew pew!
Slowly but surely, the Army is inching towards fielding its first true combat-capable, high-powered laser weapon mounted on a Stryker infantry carrier vehicle.
The service announced on Tuesday that it had successfully completed its first-ever Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) “combat shoot-off” between two unique laser systems at Fort Sill in Oklahoma earlier this summer.
The shoot-off saw the two 50-kilowatt laser weapons — developed in a competition between defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Raytheon — participate in “a series of vignettes designed to emulate realistic threats and combat scenarios,” according to the service.
Continue reading… “The Army’s first laser weapon is almost ready for a fight”