Military Applications of the Laser Weapons in the Future Battlefield

摘要

Contemporary operating environment requires a wide range of tools to respond to a myriad of regular and irregular threats. Accordingly, conventional weapons do not suffice in some cases. As technology improves exponentially, the dominance of conventional weapons is slowly fading away by the advances in laser technology. This study first outlines the characteristics of laser weapons, then provides the military applications of them in land, maritime, air and space domains and finally exhibits implications for battlefield functions. This study concludes that any country that is seeking primacy in military terms must allocate extra time and resources to obtain this emerging technology. Since it seems that there are not adequate studies about the military applications and operational concepts of the laser weapons, this study tries to increase awareness about their potential advantages.