Blasting the Air in Front of Hypersonic Vehicles With Lasers Could Unlock Unprecedented Speeds

With the goal of enabling unparalleled levels of speed for aerial weapons, this article discusses how the U.S. Department of Defense and its major contractors have pushed the limits of what is feasible with directed energy systems and hypersonic weapons. In return, through the combination of advanced directed energy technology with the latest in hypersonic vehicle design, those efforts could change the face of warfare. If successfully established, this could one day lead to new speed frontiers and groundbreaking, new aerodynamic control and aircraft design types.