http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/lockheed-martin-laser-athena-test/

Lasers are a funny thing. They became the quintessential “weapon of the future” at some point, whether they were called rayguns or phasers or blasters, they all translate to the audience as a coherent beam of light. Depending on the need, they can vaporize tanks, cut through plate steel, stun or kill an enemy.

As a tool, in today’s modern military, lasers are invaluable, not for laying waste to opposing armies, but for guidance and tracking, for measurement and judgement. Lasers as weapons have never quite made the leap to practicality, but tests like the one linked above to Lockheed Martin’s new “Truck Killer” show that they are approaching feasibility, if you can find a way to make them cheaper than good old-fashioned bullets.