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Has somebody been watching too many Iron Man movies? Lasers on Air Force fighter jets? A defense program called SHiELD? Really?
Really.
Lockheed Martin is working toward outfitting a directed energy system on fighter jets by the middle of the decade, according to a company official.
“We’re committing to putting a laser pod equipped with a high-energy laser in the air within five years,” said Mark Stephen, business development lead for strategic technology development at Lockheed Martin’s missiles and fire control division.
The company is a core member of an industry team partnering for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD, program, Stephen said during a virtual media roundtable in September.
