It may not be able to cut through a thick sheet of steel any time soon, but the US Navy has demonstrated that its solid laser can incinerate small boats.
MLD (Demonstrative Maritime Laser) it is a 15 kilowatt beam designed specifically to equip ships: its 'civilian' use could ward off pirate attacks, but it remains a full-blown weapon designed to offend and destroy.
Last Thursday MLD passed its first test, annihilating a small boat with a simple beam aimed at its engine: the target was about a nautical mile away, and the laser managed to hit it, perfectly balancing the movements that a ship makes on the 'waterfall.
This is a tiny demonstration of what the (terrible) potential of naval laser systems are: within a few years these weapons will be able to shoot down air-to-air missiles with extreme rapidity and precision, even if the Navy's objectives seem to be much more ambitious.
“It's an important starting point,” said Admiral Nevin Carr, director of the Office of Naval Research, “but we're looking for a one-megawatt laser.” Already. In short, the ray of death.
