New Laser Weapon Prototype Can Take Out a Truck One Mile Away [VIDEO]

The future is now people! We've seen them in movies for decades and now the weaponized laser is a terrifyingly badass reality. 

Lockheed-Martin, creators of the weapon called "ATHENA" (Advanced Test High Energy Asset), says their laser accurately disabled a truck that was over a mile away in a recent field test. You can see the damage inflicted during that test in the Facebook post below.

Lasers have always been a go-to weapon for sci-fi filmmakers... mostly because they're way cooler looking than a gun. Who could've imagined that when lasers became a reality, they'd be even more dangerous than the majority of their fictional counterparts? A weapon this powerful with this kind of range is more akin to the Death Star than to a blaster rifle. Granted, it can't destroy a whole planet, but a mile is a really long way to be able to fire this type of weapon. Can you imagine if something like this fell into the wrong hands?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say this thing isn't cool as f---. It totally is! ATHENA could serve a ton of great, non-terrifying purposes to keep our nation and troops safe. It's just scary how fast technology is advancing these days. An invention like this is usually a game-changer in works of fiction. Either the creators would go power-hungry and strive for global domination or the technology would turn on us and we'd be enslaved or decimated by our new robot overlords -- Judgement Day style. It's a good thing this isn't a work of fiction.

Apparently, the Navy began testing a different laser weapon system known as LaWS late last year. This laser is not only incredibly effective, it's also cost-effective. Each shot costs under $1, which is comparable to the cost of a bullet but with the power of a missile. It looks like lasers will be the weapon of the future... and than future is coming sooner than we thought.