Unleash Hellhound! Northrop Grumman boasts new military buggy has laser weapons 'we would once only see in Star Trek'

* Six seater buggy is 'laser ready' for next generation weapons
* The 5,897 kg (6.5-ton) Hellhound can carry six including the driver
* Is able to produce enough power to run a field hospital or command centre
* Will come with optional integrated 10-kilowatt solid-state fiber laser

It could be the ultimate offroader - and take soldiers into battle like never before.

Northrop Grumman has revealed the ultimate buggy -  a six seater that boasts its own laser weapon.

Called the Hellhound, it was revealed at the  the Association of the US Army's annual conference in Washington, DC.

Northrop Grumman says it plans to integrate a 10-kilowatt solid-state fiber laser into the tactical dune buggy.

The 5,897 kg (6.5-ton) Hellhound can carry six people, including the driver.

It is designed to fulfill the US Army's potential light reconnaissance vehicle programme and will compete against other designs for the lucrative contract.

The 5,897 kg (6.5-ton) Hellhound can carry six including the driver.

It is able to generate 100 kVA of exportable power, which is particularly high for a vehicle of its size, with a 120 kW Jenoptik integrated starter generator, with officials boasting it could 'power the entire hall' it was launched in.

In a disaster scenario, the Hellhound could power a blacked-out hospital or a command post.

Although the version shown off has a more traditional weapon, the firm says it is 'laser ready'  and plans to integrate a 10-kilowatt solid-state fiber laser into the tactical dune buggy.

 Northrop is using a modular energy system in the vehicle from German company JENOPTIK, which produces systems capable of generating 100 kilowatts of 'exportable, stable power,' Jeff Wood,

Northrop's director of vehicle modernization, said, according to Defence News.

'There’s never been that much power on a vehicle this small,' he said.

Inside the Hellhound: The vehicle has room for six people, including the driver.

In a disaster scenario, he said, the Hellhound could power a blacked-out hospital; in a war zone, it could power a command post.

Or, Wood said, you could power a laser beam.

'To jump to 100 kilowatts opens new opportunities that we are beginning to explore,' he said, such as 'directed energy weapons that we would once only see in Star Trek are now quite possible.'

The power will 'open new opportunities in powering expeditionary command post or key infrastructure as part of disaster response teams,' Wood said.

Several firms have working laser weapons, and Lockheed Martin recently showed off its laser weapon.

The 30-kilowatt fibre laser called Athena burnt through the manifold in seconds, despite being fired by a team from Lockheed Martin positioned more than a mile away.

The security firm said the test signifies the next step to fitting lightweight laser weapons on military aircraft, helicopters, ships and trucks.

The demonstration was the first field testing of Lockheed’s integrated 30-kilowatt, single-mode fibre laser weapon system prototype.

‘Fiber-optic lasers are revolutionising directed energy systems,’ said Keoki Jackson, Lockheed Martin chief technology officer.

‘We are investing in every component of the system - from the optics and beam control to the laser itself - to drive size, weight and power efficiencies.

‘This test represents the next step to providing lightweight and rugged laser weapon systems for military aircraft, helicopters, ships and trucks.’

By using a technique known as spectral beam combining, the system blends multiple laser modules to create a single, powerful, high-quality beam.

This is said to provide greater ‘efficiency and lethality’ than multiple individual 10-kilowatt lasers used in other systems.

Athena is based on the firm’s Area Defense Anti-Munitions (Adam) laser weapon system.

The laser, known as Athena, was built by Maryland-based security firm Lockheed Martin. During the test, the 30-kilowattfibre laser burnt through the truck’s engine (pictured) and disabled it from more a mile away

In tests off the California coast in May, Adam was used to successfully disable two boats at a range of approximately one mile (1.6km).

Lockheed Martin said at the time that it developed the ground-based system ‘to demonstrate a practical, affordable defence against short-range threats.’

During the marine the high-energy laser burnt through multiple compartments of the rubber hull of the military-grade small boats in less than 30 seconds.

Brrzzzt! U.S. Army checks out laser-based lightning tech

Future weapon would seek out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them.

by Charles Cooper

Earlier this spring, the U.S. Army revealed the existence of a project underway to build a device that could shoot lightning bolts down laser beams to take out a target. Now the military's boffins report success in their first tests.

The technology -- known as laser-induced plasma channel -- is designed to seek out targets that conduct electricity better than the air or ground that surrounds them.

Although scientists and engineers working on the weapon's development expressed confidence in the physics behind their work, George Fischer, who is the lead scientist on the project, nonetheless cautioned about the technical challenges still ahead.

"If the light focuses in air, there is certainly the danger that it will focus in a glass lens, or in other parts of the laser amplifier system, destroying it," according to Fischer. "We needed to lower the intensity in the optical amplifier and keep it low until we wanted the light to self-focus in air.

Laser weaponry is moving apace. In early May, for example, Northrop Grumman demonstrated a prototype system that burned through the skin of a drone playing the part of a cruise missile for the test. However, Fischer pointed to the challenges involved in synchronizing the laser with the high voltage, as well as how to build a device that's sufficiently rugged so as to stand up under extreme environmental conditions. The system would also need to be able to perform in the field over extended periods of time, he said, adding that a number of high-tech components would need to run continuously.

It remains unclear how soon the military can weaponize this sort of technology. A representative from the Picatinny Arsenal, headquarters for the project, was not available for comment.

However, there's clear interest in getting this done as the battlefield bottom line in having a weapon which can harness lightning bolts is huge in terms of the amount of energy generated.

"If a laser puts out a pulse with modest energy, but the time is incredibly tiny, the power can be huge," according to Fischer. "During the duration of the laser pulse, it can be putting out more power than a large city needs, but the pulse only lasts for two-trillionths of a second."