DARPA to Test Star Wars-Like Lasers on Warplanes in 2014 (Video)

There's an update for the Star Wars-like laser weapons that the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hopes to outfit fighter jets with. The agency has announced that it plans to begin ground-based firing tests of these ultra-light lasers as early as 2014.

These 150-kilowatt lasers would represent a new class of weapons that are 10 times smaller and lighter than current lasers of similar power. They're part of DARPA's High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System, and would mainly aim to shoot down rockets, surface-to-air missiles or other weapons that threaten aircraft. However, DARPA also plans to possibly use these lasers as offense weapons against some ground targets in the future.

Yet these lasers won't only have applications in the air. The Navy has interest in the 150-kilowatt laser when it comes to testing it against surface ship targets. It's not as farfetched as you might think, either. Past Navy tests have shown that lasers can shoot down aerial drones and disable small boats.

There are several technical issues that these lasers need to overcome if they're put on planes, though. Air turbulence and other compounding factors could affect aim and the laser's effectiveness on targets. In addition, U.S. military leaders, scientists and weapon experts don't see these airborne lasers as battlefield game-changers. A series of war games held at the U.S. Army War College in August 2012 found that laser weapons didn't seem to make a big difference in any of the four scenarios that were discussed. However, drones and robots incited a much bigger response.

DARPA has been working on this project since 2008, and the laser turrets were actually finished in 2012. Now it's just a matter of making them viable for aircraft. If you want to learn more about the project, check out the video below.