However, the Iron Beam is not a “space laser”—it is a ground-based laser gun controlled by operators in a command center, which was demonstrated in a video published by the Wall Street ...

Here’s a DIY laser rifle which can explode a balloon at around 150 feet (45 meters) as well as some angry chemicals at a similar distance. Since there are plenty of videos of lasers doing that ...

But the vision for Trump’s next-generation system, including space-based lasers ... would require laser beams effective over hundreds of kilometres. No such technology currently exists.