Drones - Best way to kill them - Curt Lewis

The U.S. Military shot down a drone with a laser - in 1973

The incident was likely the first use of a laser as a weapon

Few things sound more 21st century than the phrase "laser weapons," but here's something you may not know. The United States government shot down a target drone with a laser in 1973, decades before laser weapons were considered ready for prime time. The incident, which took place in the New Mexico desert, happened more than 40 years before the U.S. military actually deployed a functioning laser weapon.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the Department of Defense R&D organization that later gave birth to the Internet, had begun working on weapon lasers under a project known as Eighth Card. It was part of an effort to create a laser plane that could escort bombers in a nuclear war, protecting them from Soviet interceptor jets and surface-to-air missiles.

During a series of tests undertaken in mid-November 1973, the Eighth Card laser targeted a MQM-33B unmanned drone. The laser burned through the drone's skin and damaged its control systems, sending it wildly out of control. ARPA had thoughtfully added a parachute to the drone. The frame floated back to earth where the laser's effects could be studied.

Laser Weapon System deployed on USS Ponce.