Boeing MATRIX Laser Systems Destroy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Tests

Ok, so it's not exactly sharks with laser beams on their heads, but I think it's pretty cool nonetheless, and much more practical.

It was announced this week that back in May, the Integrated Defense Systems division of Boeing demonstrated a mobile laser weapon system that was able to track and destroy small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). According to the news, the Boeing-developed Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX) used a single, high-brightness laser beam to shoot down five UAVs at various ranges.

The tests were sponsored by the U.S. Air Force and were conducted at the Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California

"The Air Force and Boeing achieved a directed-energy breakthrough with these tests," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Missile Defense Systems' Directed Energy Systems unit. "MATRIX's performance is especially noteworthy because it demonstrated unprecedented, ultra-precise and lethal acquisition, pointing and tracking at long ranges using relatively low laser power."

Another Boeing-funded program, Laser Avenger, also successfully brought down a UAV. As part of the demonstration, Boeing successfully test-fired a lightweight 25mm machine gun from the Laser Avenger platform to potentially further the hybrid directed energy/kinetic energy capability against UAV threats.