Meet ADAM, otherwise know as the Area Defense Anti-Munitions laser weapon prototype from Lockheed Martin. We’ve seen a few of these types of weapons demonstrated recently, notably the LaWS system that is due to be deployed on a ship later this year for testing, but Lockheed Martin’s own system isn’t to be sneezed at.
ADAM has been successfully used to disable small boats in recent tests, using a high-energy laser to pierce the hull of two boats from a range of 1.6km. The company has released one of the boat test kills (seen in the video above) but they have previously tested the laser weapon against aerial targets as well. What makes ADAM unusual is that it’s not planned as a ship-based weapon. ADAM is designed to be a “transportable, ground-based” weapons platform that can be moved from place to place in order to counter coastal or inbound aerial threats.
In the video you can see the boat being targeted and destroyed from several perspectives: the naked eye, via infra-red and an on-board view from the dummy target.
Lockheed Martin’s Tory Bruno, president of Strategic and Missile Defense Systems, said “Our ADAM system tests have shown that high-energy lasers are ready to begin addressing critical defense needs.”
If you’d like an actual explosion to go along with your futuristic laser weaponry, check out ADAM’s 2013 rocket destruction test where the system took out a rocket in flight from 1.5km away. You’ll also get a look at what ADAM looks like hitched to a transportation vehicle. We’re kidding about the shark attachment. We hope.
Source: Lockheed Martin via Engadget