Marines to equip trucks with LASERS guns to shoot down enemy drones

PUBLISHED: 23:00 EST, 29 March 2013 | UPDATED: 01:50 EST, 30 March 2013

Arsenal specialists at the Navy have big plans for their fellow Marine soldiers.

The Office of Naval Research believes the Marine Corps’ air-ground task forces are too vulnerable to potential attacks from drones flying overhead.

So the military research department has said that it would like to equip Marine ground vehicles with laser guns to shoot down adversary drones.

Problem: The Office of Naval Research believes the Marine Corps¿ air-ground task forces are too vulnerable to potential attacks from drones flying overhead

Solution: So the military research department has said that it would like to equip Marine ground vehicles with laser guns to shoot down adversary drones

The Office of Naval Research unveiled its plans titled Ground-Based Air Defense Directed Energy on the Move on Thursday.

‘Shortfalls of the Marine Corps' current low-altitude air-defense program of record have been identified with the advent of new threats, specifically Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs),’ the Navy press release states.

As of now, the laser gun initiative is simply a research effort, according to the Office of Naval Research.

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The department said it plans to award grants and contracts worth up to $400,000 for the Marine-truck lasers to be manufactured and outfitted.

The Navy’s idea is to get a laser cannon weighing less than 2,500 pounds mounted onto a Marine Humvee or similar vehicle.

According to the department’s specs, the cannon needs to provide a ‘minimum optical output power’ of 25 kilowatts, with an eye toward scaling up to 50 kilowatts, for a two-minute full-power blast.

Hardware that can adjust for all ‘environmental conditions’ Marines operate in is encouraged, though the Navy department declined to say how its researchers will accomplish such a feat.