The army, navy, and airforce have always dreamed of weapons such as ray or beam guns. When the laser was successfully brought to life the military started intense research to determine if it was possible to make the dreams of Star Trek and Star Wars fantasies come true. Over a six-year period in the 1960s the military spent almost nine million dollars on this research.

     The research brought success mixed with disappointment. It was found that a handheld laser gun would not be possible to make. A laser that is powerful enough to be deadly would be too big too as well as too hot to carry. Hopes for planes that could shoot death rays also faded. Though partially possible to make, these would be much too expensive and inefficient to be worth the effort. Compare to a tank that costs one million dollars, one of these planes would cost ten million dollars. Beam guns too would remain a dream for a laser could not shoot only a three-foot beam of light but it instead shoots a steady never ending one. So in turn scientists looked toward their existing devices and weapons and improved these devices with lasers.

     Laser Range Finders- These are able to calculate the precise distance to a desired target by measuring how long a burst of laser light takes to get to that target.

     Laser Bomb Designators- A low-power laser beam is shined at the desired target. A bomb is released and is able to reach and destroy the target by sensing the laser beam and following it to the destination.

     Laser Battle Simulations- During practice simulations of battle soldiers, tanks, and trucks have attached sensors to them so that when the soldiers fire at each other with special fake weapons that release bursts of light, the sensor automatically registers that someone is hit and so it is easier and more realistic to determine who is dead.

     Submarine Laser- In order for a submarine to communicate with a base, or vice versa, the laser has proved to be a successful tool for communicating which eliminates the dangers of the risky, detectable radiowaves used previously. A blue-green laser is transmitted to a satellite that relays the beam to the submarine. The ray is only relayed for a millionth of a second so that there is basically no chance that is will be detected by something else. The receiver on the sub picks up the signal and decodes it. Even if someone else detected the signal they would not have the possibility to pick it up and decode it because the receiver has to be the exact shade of the laser beam.