AFSOC lacks $58 million for AC-130J laser weapon demonstration program

At a hearing of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging threats, lawmakers were told that a project to fit a 60-kilowatt laser on the AC-130J still lacks $58 million to get the program fully funded.

Airborne-laser
By U.S. Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Head of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Lt. Gen. Marshall Webb, was responding to questions from Sen. Martin Heinrich on why the service is moving slowly from testing a four-kilowatt laser to a 30-kilowatt version and now directly to a 60-kilowatt laser.