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Via the BBC: Record power for military laser

A laser developed for military use is a few steps away from hitting a power threshold thought necessary to turn it into a battlefield weapon.

The Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL) has achieved 67 kilowatts (kW) of average power in the laboratory.

It could take only a further six to eight months to break the "magic" 100kW mark required for the battlefield, the project's chief scientist told the BBC.

Potentially, lasers could destroy rockets, mortars or roadside bombs.

You hear about these sorts of projects for years without ever seeing any tangible results, and then one day you wake up to find someone talking about completion of a laser weapon in the matter of months. It is like a whole new world.

Perhaps the most successful of the US military's laser projects has been the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), which has shot down a small arsenal of mortars and rockets in live tests.

THEL uses a highly focused, high-power laser beam to engage and destroy aerial targets.

Another high-profile system currently under development is the US Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL), which is designed to destroy enemy missiles shortly after they have been launched.

The megawatt class chemical laser is to be carried aboard a modified Boeing 747 freighter aircraft.

I wonder what sort of targets would require a large airplane based chemical laser that couldn't be handled by conventional weapons. It might simply be a matter of precision. You might be able to destroy a target without endangering civilians near it. (That is just a guess. The article never states why a laser would be the preferred option.)

The targeting of mortars and rockets seems the most promising for adding something revolutionary to the armed forces arsenal. One can certainly see where a laser would be much preferred over a system using conventional rockets, such as the Patriot anti-missile battery. If such a system can be perfected and made operational the battlefield will never look the same.

I wonder what this says about missile technology in the long term. Are they on the road to being outmoded? The answer to that might very well be "Yes."