WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A Stryker combat vehicle outfitted with a laser integrated with sensors destroyed an airborne drone during a test at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the US Army announced in a statement.
"The Stryker's Mobile High-Energy Laser (MEHEL) includes on-board radar, increased laser power and longer range," the statement said on Thursday. "Observers watched the black and white output of [the laser's] sensors on two flat-screen televisions [and watched] the crosshairs lock on the drone and follow it and the drone fell from the sky."
The US Army explained MEHEL was developed to enable it to cope with inexpensive off-the-shelf unmanned drones that are being used by adversaries in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
"[The lasers will have] the ability to destroy incoming anti-tank missiles, mortars, field artillery rounds, across the whole of what the counter-rocket, artillery and mortar mission is currently."
The US Army noted that during tests, MEHEL destroyed 50 targets.
