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Australia's New Ghost Bat Combat Drone and Our Drone Blasting Apollo Laser - Robot Uprising Update

The newly-named MQ-28A during the second test flight series at Woomera Range Complex in South Australia
The newly-named MQ-28A during the second test flight series at Woomera Range Complex in South Australia

You don't really think of Australia when it comes to cutting edge military technology but in the last few years we're are emerging as a country that makes the tech that supports the big guns on the battlefield.

By that I mean we don't make the killer fighter jets, or formidable tanks that lesser armies would lose against in a head to head assault, but we do make the tech that can support the main artillery and even increase it's effectiveness in the process.

Case in point, Australia's new Ghost Bat Combat Drone, which I became aware of thanks to Wes O'Donnell's  YouTube channel, where he talks all about the latest military tech and specifically how much of it is being used in the Ukraine war.

The Ghost Bat Drone is the first combat aircraft built in Australia in over 50 years and can be used for anything from surveillance to active combat, thanks to its modular design which allows the entire front of the craft to be swapped out depending on how it will be used. Watch Wes' video below for a complete rundown. 

Australia's Ghost Bat Drone Is Here and It's Wild!

If the Ghost Bat wasn't enough Australia has also built the first Drone Blasting Laser to be sold to a foreign country.

Named the Apollo Laser this highly portable device can be set up virtually anywhere, runs on its own power, can take out (or blind) optics of up to 200 drones from up to 15 kilometers away. If you actually plug it into a power source it can run indefinitely.

APOLLO HIGH ENERGY LASER WEAPON
Apollo is built to destroy or disable Group 1–3 UAS and disrupt their sensors at range, reducing the effectiveness of coordinated swarm attacks. Image - EOS

This thing fires a real laser too. Basically a beam of light that will burn through most drones up to the size of a small car. Since it doesn't need to reload, you can just set it up and let it do its thing. Again watch Wes' video below for a full run down.

Australia's Secret Drone Blaster Revealed!

These aren't the only things Australia has been busy developing. A couple of other videos worth checking out from Wes' channel include:

From my point of view, while I often joke that all manner of tech could be quite concerning once they attach lasers to it, the Apollo laser could, conceivably, be attached to a robot humanoid soldier and the next thing you know it's setting people on fire from up to 15 kilometers away!

Just don't tell your robot vacuum cleaner


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