Fergie's Tech Blog

Defense Tech: Northrop Opens First U.S. Laser Weapons Plant

A Reuters newswire article, via InformationWeek, reports that:

Northrop Grumman Corp. Tuesday opened the first U.S. production facility for high-energy laser weapons, saying it hoped to benefit from rapid growth in the new class of weapons that are cheaper to operate than traditional missiles.

"We see this capability emerging very quickly. The government is moving in this direction," Mike McVey, president of Northrop's directed energy systems business, told a teleconference. "We're positioning ourselves to be ready when they want more capability."

McVey declined to say how much the new facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., cost but said it could be used to build three 100-kilowatt lasers at the same time, and could also do classified work for the military. He gave no further details.

posted by Fergie @ 1/17/2007 11:25:00 AM