U.S. Army

A wrecked drone sits on the desk of the Army’s senior air defender after being shot down during a test at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, a few weeks ago.

The pile of vaporized plastic is evidence of the firepower behind the Army’s cutting-edge, drone-blasting laser technology.

“Our adversaries are challenging us in the space domain,” Lt. Gen. Daniel L. Karbler, commanding general, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said to a group at the Association of the U.S. Army’s “Hot Topics” forum Thursday on space and integrated air and missile defense.”We’ve got to be able to address the threats that are out there, that the adversaries have presented,” Karbler said.

Although laser weapons may conjure images of futuristic ray guns in Star Wars films, this kind of engineering is a reality for the Army, as the force strives to continue to outpace near-peer adversaries on a modernized battlefield.

Click here to read the rest of the article.