Laser used to shoots down planes

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7898710/Laser-used-to-shoots-down-planes.html

What happens if there is a missed target?

Laser beams have been used for the first time in naval warfare to shoot down aircraft, it can be disclosed.

The weapon, mounted on a warship’s missile, shot down four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in secret testing carried out off the California coast, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

In a joint enterprise between US Navy and Raytheon Missile Systems the technology has now got to the stage where lasers will be deployed on warships as part of their short-range defence.


For the first time a ‘solid state’ 32 mega watt laser beam of directed energy has been fired from a warship to a distance of more than two miles burning into a drone travelling at about 300mph.

The laser is mounted on a Phalanx close in weapons system that has a radar detection system. The targeting system was used in Iraq, to train fire from a Gatling onto rockets and mortars raining down on British bases.