Northrop Grumman Corp. of Falls Church, Va., test-fired the first product in its next-generation Firestrike family of high-energy solid-state lasers. Conducted at the company’s Redondo Beach, Calif., laboratory, the tests demonstrated that the laser could burn through the skin and critical components of a target drone used to simulate anti-ship cruise missile threats to US Navy ships. The laser, dubbed Gamma, uses “slab” architecture similar to that of the company’s previous high-power lasers. The company said that the Gamma’s real advancement is in the laser’s packaging and ruggedization for operations in real-world military platforms.