US military deploys Xbox-controlled lasers to fight Iranian drones in Strait of Hormuz
No laser backpacks in sight.
Drone being shot down. Image by Picture Alliance/Getty
- The US is deploying ship-mounted laser weapons in the Strait of Hormuz to counter Iranian drones and missiles.
- The Department of War plans to spend $500 million on laser systems that are ready for combat use.
- Operators use heavy-duty Xbox-style controllers to aim the laser systems and disable drone sensors or drones.
- Critics say the Trump administration uses pop culture references to make military and immigration policies more appealing.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The US Department of War has started deploying lasers, which are controlled by giant Xbox-style controllers, in the Strait of Hormuz, to eliminate Iranian drones and cruise missiles.
The Department of War (DoW) is gearing up to spend $500 million on ready-for-war laser weapons used to target Iranian hardware, a laser power project that the US has battled with for 50 years.
Due to their weight, these lasers are currently affixed to US battleships, meaning American soldiers won’t be wearing them anytime soon, as we’ve seen in apocalyptic video games like Fallout or Helldivers.
The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic location – a narrow waterway that’s one of the main delivery pathways for oil and petroleum.
The US Navy has been increasingly interested in novel methods to intercept Iranian missiles and fend off drone attacks.
AI-powered anti-drone systems were among the latest technologies added to the US arsenal.
While these systems use a combination of AI, computer vision, and robotics to detect, track, and defeat incoming threats, the laser system operates a little differently.
The US military can now “specifically track and target drones…disable its sensors or kill the drone itself,” Mark Neice, president of the company that works with the military, told The New York Post.
Cybernews has reached out to Neice’s company, Directed Energy Consultants, for comment.
Adding to the science fiction of it all, the laser weapons are operated by heavy-duty Xbox controllers.
The games industry already did the heavy lifting when developing the best controller, so Neice told The Post, “Why reinvent the wheel with a specialized control system” when you can “just use an Xbox controller.”
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Gamification of war
Throughout President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, a particular trend has emerged in the way his administration discusses issues such as war and migration.
Critics say that the Trump Administration has weaponized various technologies, like AI and social media, to create deportation machines and encourage anti-immigration discourse online.
While big tech companies like Peter Thiel’s spytech firm Palantir and Flock Safety are being leveraged by ICE agents to aid in deportations.
But what Trump’s Administration has been particularly proactive with is repackaging its rhetoric to make it palatable to the next generation of voters.
The administration used pop culture references like Nintendo’s Pokémon to glorify anti-immigration sentiments and appropriated 90s arcade games like Tetris and Snake to create its own White House Arcade.
