(VIDEO) U.S. NAVY "LASER WEAPONS SYSTEM" DESTROYS DRONE IN FUTURISTIC HIGH TECH WARFARE VIDEO RELEASED

The Navy's Laser Weapons System, left, fires and destroys a drone, right, in a video demonstration.

Dr. Evil's dream of having sharks with "freakin' laser beams attached to their heads" isn't exactly a fantasy anymore.
That's because the US Navy released a video yesterday showing off the destructive power of their not very creatively named "Laser Weapons System."
At the beginning of the clip, the Laser Weapons System is shown on the back of the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey as the ship cruises on the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California.

The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) temporarily installed aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105) in San Diego, Calif.

The video quickly zooms in on the Navy's six-barreled laser cannon, which then fires its invisible ray of destruction on a passing drone aircraft which bursts into flames and crashes into the ocean.

"The future is here," Peter A. Morrision, the laser's program officer, told to Navy.mil. "The solid-state laser is a big step forward to revolutionizing modern warfare with directed energy, just as gunpowder did in the era of knives and swords."
The YouTube video is a demonstration of the laser's capability and it also highlights what the cannon will eventually replace — the gatling guns and missiles currently installed on Navy ships that are used to shoot down hostile aircraft and defend against small boats.
Besides being a nerd's dream, the sci-fi weapon's big advantage is how cheap it is compared to its conventional rivals.
"Our conservative data tells us a shot of directed energy costs under $1," Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder said. "Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to fire a missile, and you can begin to see the merits of this capability."
This is not the first time that the US Military has played around with using lasers as weapons. In 2012 the Air Force demonstrated a defensive laser that they installed on one of their fighter planes.