The age of laser attacks are getting real. But before they get all Star Trek like, the US Military is going to try something different - laser pods mounted on drones to shoot down missiles.

The US just gave Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman contracts to develop aircraft-mounted laser weapons to protect drones from getting hit by missiles.

DARPA said engineers had been working to develop "scalable laser weapons that are 10 times lighter and more compact than existing high-power chemical laser systems."