Chinese scientists claim to have created a'real-life Death Star' capable of devastating enemy satellites in orbit. The science-fiction-inspired weapon combines pulses of microwave radiation into a single powerful beam - just like the planet-destroying lasers shown in Star Wars. In order to merge, the electromagnetic pulses must hit the exact same target within 170 trillionths of a second. That requires levels of timing more precise than the atomic clocks on advanced GPS satellites - a feat previously thought to be impossible. However, the weapon has now completed experimental trials for potential military applications thanks to breakthroughs in'ultra-high time precision synchronisation'.

Military drones can resist radio-jamming anti-drone devices, but a microwave weapon could take down a whole swarm at once, or disable just one with sniper-like precision

The most terrifying film of the year didn't come from Hollywood. It came from a think tank looking to save us all from killer machines. In the movie's near future dystopia, palm-sized drones loaded up with explosives use facial recognition to hunt down and slaughter people with pinpoint precision. Swarms of the micro murderers tear through Congress, massacring Senators based on ideology. Terrorists unleash a horde of the flying monsters into schools to take out the kids of parents who dare to speak out against the threat.

The most terrifying film of the year didn't come from Hollywood. It came from a think tank looking to save us all from killer machines. In the movie's near future dystopia, palm sized drones loaded up with explosives use facial recognition to hunt down and slaughter people with pin point precision. Swarms of the micro murderers tear through congress, massacring Senators based on ideology. Terrorists unleash a horde of the flying monsters into schools to take out the kids of parents who dare to speak out against the threat. What makes it all so horrifying is how close we are to making it a reality.

There are all kinds of creative ways of dealing with rogue drones: Radio jamming. None of these are really designed to handle military drones, however, and large, fast-moving UAVs are still a potential threat, especially if more than one is coming at you at once. It's no surprise that the U.S. Army has been developing solutions for this potential threat-- we're not sure what they're working on now, but as of late 2013, Raytheon was successfully testing a long range, high power directed microwave weapon capable of taking out swarms of drones in milliseconds. The Phaser is essentially a high powered microwave (HPM) cannon that runs on a diesel engine. Exactly how powerful this thing is (and what its range is) is still classified, but we do know that it can be tuned to either "disrupt" or "damage," where for most drones, "damage" seems to be synonymous with "destroy."