Russia Claims Major Advancement in Laser Weapons

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov says experts have made a breakthrough in creating laser weapons.

“I will give you a secret. It really was about our serious achievements in the field of nitride lasers, we have made a very serious start in relation to even world achievements. I think that this backlog is about three to five years,” Borisov said at the “Engineers of the Future” forum in the Tula region.

He added that Russian engineers have managed to find “interesting technical solutions on how to convey a certain specific power of the laser to the object and how to keep its beam,” reports Zvezda, a news outlet owned by the Russian defense ministry.

Lockheed Martin’s 30kW Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) is currently touted to be the most powerful laser weapon in the world. To prove its accuracy, the American firm in 2015 directed the weapon specifically on the hood of the vehicle, where it fried the engine.