Making Laser Weapons a Reality

Directed energy weapons first took a step towards reality in the 1980s under President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), dubbed “Star Wars” by the media. But, the technology didn't really materialize at that time and the cessation of the Cold War largely removed the immediate impetus to develop it. Since then, lasers have become widely used in military applications, particularly for target designation and aircraft countermeasures, but there is still no significant deployment of lasers as offensive weapons. Now, advances in high power fiber laser technology, particularly in the efficiency, compactness and weight of their pump diode lasers, are poised to make laser weapons a practical reality.