Weapons

The Chinese Military Now Has Laser Weapons

With a military budget second only to the United States, the Chinese military is one of the very few which has been able to invest on a myriad of technologies to further boost its claim as a global superpower.

In addition to the new stealth fighters, killer drones, tanks and carrier-killing missiles that it unveiled this year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army also introduced portable laser weapons, which are much closer to laser guns found in science fiction, PopSci reported.

While not (yet) exactly similar to the weapons found in Star Wars, PLA’s laser guns have an important role in future warfare. . Local weapons manufacturers have been marketing the laser guns as means to attack and disable heat-seeking sensors on missiles, satellites, and others enemy targets.

The laser can also reportedly pick up encrypted communications and detect stealth aircraft. One thing it can’t do, however, is blast humans into smithereens as the 1998 Protocol of Blinding Laser Weapons prohibits the use of laser and other similar blinding weapons against people.