The American military is testing a high-powered laser cannon mounted on an armoured truck to clear air fields of unexploded bombs and booby-traps.
The 3KW laser operated with a games console-style controller will be able to detonate unexploded ordnance and makeshift bombs at 300 yards.
A robotic arm fitted to the vehicle can also dig around bombs and haul up 50lb of earth and debris at a time.
Developers believe the new vehicle will be quicker and safer for clearing areas than more traditional methods such as shooting at unexploded bombs with a heavy machine gun, or sending in bomb disposal experts and their robots.
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I didn't think aiming heavy machine gun fire at unexploded IEDs was doctrinally correct, but perhaps I was mistaken.
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