Lightning bolt

If the current laser can blind enemy satellites or burn enemy gases, in the future this technology can guide the lightning bolts straight and destroy targets on the battlefield.

One of the laser experiments that led the way
lightning strike on target - (Image: US Army)

The Pentagon's lab in New Jersey is testing how the lasers can create plasma-charged channels in the air, paving the way for electricity to travel along.

Laser-guided lightning bolts can be precisely targeted to targets such as tanks or roadside bombs, as they conduct well on the ground.

"We have never been bored using lightning bolts for assumed targets," said Innovation News Daily chief George Fischer.

This idea mimics the way the lightning bolts from the thunderclouds land straight down to the ground, where electricity travels in the direction of the least resistance.

The researchers used a form of ultrashort wavelength laser with the lowest energy to keep the laser focused on a point. The electromagnetic field of a laser can collect electrons from a gas molecule to produce a plasma path for the electric current.