Drones and missiles are pesky things. They are small, fly pretty fast and are almost impossible to shoot down with pretty much anything. German company Rheinmetall has found their one weakness, and it’s really cool: Lasers. The company has just released a 50kW laser system (up from the previous year’s 10kW) that punched a hole through a 15mm (about .6-inch) steel girder at a distance of a kilometer. The system uses a 30 and a 20kW laser that are both focused on the target in order to achieve the 50kW output. Researchers said that the technology could be scaled, and there was little in the way of coming up with a 100kW laser array in the future. The system included a tracking module that enabled it in tests to detect, track and destroy a roughly mortar-sized target travelling at 50 m/sec. It’s a very impressive demonstration of technology, and one that we can’t wait to see mounted on either a motorcycle, sports car or shark near us. Read the whole release HERE.