Laser Gun Shoots Down Drone

This is either awesome or terrifying, depending on your perspective: Raytheon Missile Systems has developed a laser that is capable of shooting down aircraft. The company mounted the 32-kilowatt infrared laser on a warship’s gun turret and then used it to shoot down a drone that was more than two miles away and traveling at 300 miles per hour. The Telegraph says that such lasers “will be deployed on warships as part of their short-range defense,” though the New Scientist says that they require so much energy on top of the ships already-taxed power systems that some are advocating powering ships with nuclear reactors.