00:00Welcome to the future. Watch out for the lasers.
00:03The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence announced on Monday
00:06that it had successfully test-fired a high-powered laser weapon
00:09from a British Army combat vehicle.
00:11Providing the army with operational advantage,
00:14a capability that's very easy to use, easy to understand,
00:17easy to deploy mobile into different environments.
00:20The ministry said the weapon could hit targets up to a kilometre away
00:23and that each shot costs less than 10 pence, or 13 American cents.
00:27As the ministry puts it, less than a cup of tea.
00:30Raytheon was involved in developing the device.
00:33They said in a statement, this variant of the HELWS,
00:36or High Energy Laser Weapon System,
00:38has been designed to defeat NATO Class 1 drones.
00:42Raytheon UK Chief Executive and Managing Director James Gray said,
00:45We now look forward to the British Army experimenting with the weapon
00:48over the coming months and proving that the technology is battlefield ready.
00:52So we're not living in Star Wars quite yet,
00:54but in at least one respect, we could be getting there soon.
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