WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Special Operations Command Prepares to Test Airborne Directed Energy Weapon.

The directed energy weapon is “rapidly moving” from the conceptual to the practical, he said in late March. Webb recently visited MIT Lincoln Labs to view its advancements, and saw Naval Sea Systems Command Dahlgren’s latest efforts to network all of the various components within the aircraft.

He was impressed by the improvements that had been made.

“We’re no longer talking about bulky chemical lasers, but streamlined electrical lasers,” Webb said. “These pioneering scientists have honed the ability to combine smaller lasers into a finely-tuned, exquisite single laser. Beam control seems to no longer be an issue. Nor is the cooling technology needed … to keep the system operating.

“Believe me, this technology is quickly leaving the pages of science fiction,” he added.

A proof of concept for a high-energy laser on a gunship will help pave the path for AFSOC to pursue directed energy weapons on other aircraft, he said.

There’s almost nothing which can’t be made better by the addition of high-energy laser weapons.