Pew Pew PEW ZOT!

[IStateYourName]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/how-the-army-s-recent-successful-laser-test-could-change-the-future-of-warfare-005259265.html

It's not exactly Star Wars material, but the U.S. Army seems to have kicked up the whole battlefield laser scenario a notch. 

I don't think this will be too useful in superpower versus superpower conflicts, at least not yet.  But I'm thinking a network of several laser arrays could be the next generation of Iron Dome technology, and help secure a base against mortars, SCUDs and other such ballistic weapons used by many of the world's insurgents.  Ships could use them to play merry hell with Somalian pirates, who typically use many lightly armed, unarmored speedboats to attack shipping.

[Wayfarer]

You want to check on something that IS right out of Star wars? Look up the TALOS suit that is currently being tested for use in the Special Operations Community. President Obama let the cat out of the bag when he went blabbing to the press about "Iron Man" suits that we have.
http://interestingengineering.com/super-soldiers-are-about-to-arrive-soon/