Last month saw some drone wars in the Middle East. The US and Iran were duking it out via drone takedowns. Iran took out a US drone that cost millions, and then the US claims to have taken out an Iraniain drone, which they denied.

<center><img src="https://i.imgur.com/mIk5ftu.jpg" /><br/><em><sub><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-05/air-force-set-deploy-drone-killing-laser-weapon-military-dune-buggies">Source</a></sub></em></center>

In an effort to help take down drones, the USAF is getting ready to deploy drone-killing laser weapons onto dune buggies. It's reminiscent of Mad Max style battles with weapons on dune buggies, at least to me.

> *"Every day, there’s another story about a rogue drone incident,"* Stefan Baur, vice president of Raytheon Electronic Warfare Systems, told The Washington Post.

> *"These threats aren’t going away, and in many instances, shooting them with a high energy laser weapon system is the most effective and safest way to bring them down."*

Raytheon is developing the prototype high energy laser weapon systems for a 12-month test period. The contract is worth $23 million for just two of these High Energy Laser Weapons Systems (HELWS).

Directed energy weapon technology seems to be the push going forward in modern warfare. It reminds me of Terminator as well, except those are AI robots, with laser weapons firing on humans in a dystopian future.

> *"The fact that it’s a laser weapon allows you to put energy in target at the speed of light. It can be an instantaneous heating event,"* said Michael Jirjis, who leads the Air Force’s directed energy experimentation projects, told The Post.

They also want to stop "wasting ammunition" firing at flying targets, which the 10-kilowatt laser allows them to do. Quadcopter drones are apparently a concern in the Middle East warfare against terrorists who use them as suicide drones.

The Air Force also considers drones to be a highly significant threat, as they consider not having come under fire by aerial vehicles since the Korean War of the 1950s.

The future is looking bleak as drones and war-game like interfaces are used to separate operators from the gravity of their actions. Next step is AI robots to battle wars, where people care even less about who is being dominated in the name of "protecting their freedoms".

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References:
- [Air Force Set To Deploy Drone Killing Laser Weapon On Military Dune Buggies](https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-05/air-force-set-deploy-drone-killing-laser-weapon-military-dune-buggies)