Marines in Iraq Once Requested an Airborne Laser Weapon to Torch Insurgents and Terrify Onlookers

Pentagon whistleblower Franz Gayl reflects on his vivid 2006 request for an flying laser capable of “instantaneous burst-combustion of insurgent clothing [and] a rapid death through violent trauma."

An artist’s rendering of the Precision Airborne Standoff Directed Energy Weapon (PASDEW) firing from a AC-130 gunship. (US Marine Corps)

At the height of the Iraq War, the US Marine Corps made an unusual request: American troops desperately needed an airborne high-energy laser weapon to set insurgents ablaze from miles away.

In a December 2006 Urgent Univ…