New Atlas:
It was 5-0 at the US Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico as a Lockheed Martin prototype laser weapon system shot down five unmanned drones with a 100 percent success rate. The August test of the Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) system against five Outlaw drones was designed to demonstrate how the system’s advanced beam control technology and an solid-state fiber laser could decisively destroy unmanned aerial threats.
In a video released by Lockheed, the transportable, ground-based ATHENA system shot down the five 10.8-ft (3.3-m) wingspan Outlaws by focusing its 30 kW Accelerated Laser Demonstration Initiative (ALADIN) laser at the aircraft’s stern control surfaces until they burned off, sending the drones crashing into the desert floor.
