Drone-zapping

I spotted something interesting, if a little scary, today on the BBC. Boeing has successfully shot down 'a drone' by zapping it with a transportable high-power laser system on a test range.

The article doesn't actually say but I guess this is a straightforward military weapon intended to defend, say, a battlefield camp against the enemy's military drones that approach or overfly it. It would, of course, need to distinguish friendly drones (and aircraft and shells ... and soldiers and land vehicles ...) from foe in order to avoid costly and embarrassing incidents, all in real time as things (perhaps several) fly towards or past the zapper, the more sophisticated ones running radar jammers etc. If you think about the complexities of the situation and the necessary speed of target acquisition, identification, decision making and response, it is an impressive weapon.

I guess in due course, simpler civil versions of the weapon might prove valuable to defend public buildings (such as airports, parliaments, embassies, prisons and homes of the rich-n-famous) against drone 'attacks'.

Perhaps this explains the popularity of the 'laser kiwi' flag option with the people of NZ, if not our highly-paid government-sponsored flag committee?