US Navy fires laser gun from ship for the first time

The US Navy recently took a major leap forward in terms of weapon technology recently. They mounted a solid-state laser called the Maritime Laser Demonstrator aboard a decommissioned destroyer, the USS Paul Foster. With a motorboat a mile away from the ship, they set out for target practice with the laser gun. It fired a 15-kilowatt beam of laser at the boat and set the motorboat’s engines on fire in a matter of seconds. While it didn’t have the flashy red or green lasers we’re so used to seeing in movies or the sound of a laser gun going off, it was a pretty impressive sight. I mean, who would’ve thought we’d ever see laser weapons this soon in our lives? The things we only used to read about in books and watch in movies are turning into reality and a pretty scary one at that. Hit the break to watch video footage of the laser igniting the boat: