Rolls-Royce Is Selling a Power System for Lethal Laser Weapons

Luxury Lasers

Luxury automaker Rolls-Royce is making a hard pivot to the death ray industry, according to Defense News: The company just unveiled a new hybrid power source intended to continuously power 100-kilowatt laser weapons.

The power system combines a battery that could instantly fire the laser without needing to charge up with a helicopter engine that can take over the battery once it revs up, recharging it in the process. The system could be part of a shift in the face of warfare from bullets and missiles to beams of lethal energy.

Flexible Engineering

The power source can be used in one of two ways it can be built to fit on a jet, helicopter, or other vehicle. Or, if the military is less concerned about space, a bulkier version of the hybrid power source could fire a laser for a longer period of time.

“Our idea here is we want to package it in a size that can fit along with the laser system onto a vehicle, a type of a truck or eventually a ship or even eventually airborne,” Mark Wilson, COO of Rolls-Royce’s advanced tech research division, told Defense News. “So the focus of our research is on developing that kind of capability that can go on an actual platform.”