Air Force drones will one day fire high-tech laser weapons to destroy high-value targets, conduct precision strikes and incinerate enemy locations from the sky, senior service officials told Scout Warrior.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is already working on a program to develop laser weapons for manned aircraft to arm cargo planes and fighter jets by the mid-2020s. When it comes to drones, there does not yet appear to be a timetable for when fired lasers would be operational weapons - however weapons technology of this kind is moving quickly.