Military Times:
For decades, the Defense Department has put money and manpower behind putting directed energy — or laser — weapons in the hands of soldiers.
And now, Army soldiers are using one of the first practical laser weapons in Europe, a civilian director of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command Future Warfare Center said Wednesday.
Richard DeFatta told an audience of more than 100 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s one-day conference on air and missile defense that while researchers are working on a powerful 100-kilowatt laser, smaller, more scientifically manageable projects have already been fielded.