Lockheed Martin’s ATHENA laser weapon system moves future of war one step closer

Aircraft-maker Lockheed Martin just successfully tested its new laser weapon system. Called Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA), the laser burned through a car’s hood and destroyed its engine.

The company tried ATHENA on a truck that was mounted on a test platform. The laser was more than one mile away from the vehicle, which had its engine engaged and running. Besides burning through the metal hood, the laser also melted the engine and drive train, incapacitating the truck, reports Business Insider.

A 3-kilowatt fibre laser weapon, ATHENA uses the spectrum beam combining process to make up for the weakness of older laser weapon systems that were mostly inefficient because of its bulky size and tended to overheat. The system was based on Lockheed’s Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) laser weapon system and incorporated its 30-kilowatt Accelerated Laser Demonstration Initiative (ALADIN), a fibre laser developed by the aerospace manufacturing giant.

With ATHENA, the optical fibre it uses are flexible, allowing use of longer beams but taking much lesser space similar to a rope being coiled. The bigger surface-to-volume ratio results in the system being cooler. Because of the laser fibre being more durable, it projects a high-quality team that uses 50 percent less electricity compared to an equivalent solid-state laser, explains Gizmag.

Because using the laser did not result in any explosion or damage to the environment, ATHENA has a strong potential as an effective, non-lethal weapon. The result of the test moves the future of warfare one step closer because of ATHENA’s ability to aim at and make vehicles inoperable even from a far distance, but with no collateral damage.

Among the benefits of using the Lockheed laser, especially in a war zone, are the ability to target vehicles suspected to have on board explosives or militants such as members of the Islamic State, and lesser risks of injuring innocent bystanders.

Lockheed says the ATHENA is only a prototype. Once it moves into production, the company sees the laser weapon systems being used on military planes, vessels, trucks and choppers.