...:: Days of Our Future ::...

 The Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) program is a US military program to mount a high energy laser damage weapon on an aircraft, initially the AC-130 gunship, for use against ground targets in urban or other areas where minimizing collateral damage is important. The laser will be a 100 kilowatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL). It is expected to have a tactical range of approximately twenty kilometers and weigh about 5,000–7,000 kg. This program is distinct from the Airborne Laser, which is a much larger system designed to destroy enemy missiles in the boost phase.

The Advanced Tactical Laser can place a 10-centimeter-wide beam with the heating power of a blowtorch on distant targets for up to 100 shots and produce a four-inch-diameter beam of energy that can slice through metal from a distance of 9 miles.

It can provide powerful capabilities for both lethal and non-lethal ultra-precision engagement of threats with little or no collateral damage. This is often critical in urban environments and congested chokepoints that are vulnerable to terrorist activities or insurgent operations. Operated from a ground, sea or airborne platform, ATL offers the ability to place a precisely calibrated energy pulse on a target from either close in or from a standoff distance of several miles. While the ATL provides a laser weapon that can be used for lethal warfare when warranted, the ATL can also affect less-than-lethal engagements that can help control high-risk situations for both military and humanitarian purposes. Its rapid energy delivery coupled with its high-resolution, non-cooperative observation and surveillance capabilities provide unique defensive operational capabilities in densely populated areas. ATL can exploit the target vulnerabilities to cause the target to be destroyed for military purposes OR to cause limited damage to the extent that its functionality and/or mobility is impaired for humanitarian purposes such as saving the lives of captives or hostages. The ATL can achieve this result in a covert, non-destructive, and non-intrusive mode that negates unnecessary loss of life.

In a recent test at the White Sands Missile Range, a specially equipped C-130 plane fried a parked truck with a powerful laser. And while we still haven't seen evidence of the laser "defeating" a ground target, as Boeing puts it, a video of it scorching a direct hit on the hood of a truck is still pretty amazing.
this is the first time the megawatt-powered chemical laser has been used to engage a target in a combat simulation situation.

Great news, this humanitarian (?) destructive laser is not very far away in the future so we can start scorching mercenaries and the enemies of the free world (?).

Check the video.



Sources
popsci.com
globalsecurity.org
wikipedia.org