Chinese Military Says It’s Figured Out How to Build Laser Weapons That Can Fire Indefinitely

Beam Me UpThe Chinese military has announced what could be a major breakthrough in energy weapon tech — if it holds up. The new Chinese cooling system, according to the report, would use gas that blows through the weapon to remove excess heat and allow for weapons to shoot precise laser beams for an indefinite amount of time without losing power or getting distorted. But these projects have largely failed to become mainstream weapons because, as the report suggests, they simply weren't destructive enough. "If [Chinese scientists] have overcome the heating and distortion issues as claimed, in a (relatively) small enough unit for deployment," Weaver wrote, "this is a big breakthrough considering the US failures in this area." Along with providing a supposedly cheaper alternative to old-school missile systems because it won't need traditional munitions, these cool lasers could also be used to shoot down satellites like those provided by Elon Musk's Starlink system, military scientists told the SCMP.