Northrup Grumman's New Military Truck May Have Laser Weapons

First Posted: Oct 14, 2015 01:14 PM EDT

It may seem like something out of a sci-fi show, but it's not. Trucks armed with lasers are apparently the latest in defense technology.

The new truck is called the Hellhound scout car, developed by Northrop Grumman. It boasts six seats and has enough output to be able to power a blacked-out hospital or a command post in a war zone. Not surprisingly, this is what also gives the Hellhound the capacity to power a laser beam.

"There's never been that much power on a vehicle this small," said Jeff Wood as he showed off the Hellhound at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference in Washington D.C.

The laser currently isn't integrated with the vehicle. However, Northrop Grumman announced that they're looking to add a 10-kilowatt solid-state fiber laser onto the Hellhound. And the vehicle certainly packs the power to make it possible. The laser would, in theory, be able to shoot down small drones.

Already, other companies are working on lasers. Lockheed Martin recently showed off its 30-kilowatt fiber laser called Athena, which burned through several military-grade small boats in seconds, despite being fired by a team positioned more than a mile away.

With that said, the army hasn't asked for a laser on the Light Reconnaissance Vehicle, which means that a laser may never be mounted on Hellhound. However, there is the capability to do so in the future. Currently, though, lasers are being looked at as "on the ground" defenses against missiles. Though similarly, a laser on Hellhound could act as a defense system and shoot down any incoming missiles.

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TagsLaser, Lasers, Military, Vehicle, Tech, Weapons