May 4, 2012 – HIGH TECH - Northrop Grumman Corporation has test fired the first product in its next-generation FIRESTRIKE family of high-energy, solid-state lasers that meet goals for size and weight reduction and ruggedization for operational applications. The lethality testing used a single Gamma chain at short distance in a way that simulated the effects that a laser weapon of several chains aboard a Navy ship could achieve at a range of several miles.