The 22 Weirdest Military Weapons

While dogs are routinely used in war for tasks like bomb-sniffing, the military has also taken inspiration from Fido to build robots. Enter the "Big Dog," a robotic creature built by the company Boston Dynamics. The large, rough-terrain robot shambles slowly up rocky terrain while carrying heavy loads, and is currently being tested in Afghanistan. The robotic beast sounds like a swarm of bees, and its mincing gait makes it look more like a show poodle than a truly large dog, meaning it's probably not all that stealthy or fast. But the goal of the 240-lb. (109 kilograms) behemoth isn't to be quiet or quick; it's to carry about 100 lbs. (45 kg) so troops don't have to shoulder their own loads. However, in 2015, the military seemed less enamored of the idea, saying the size and noise would give away soldiers' positions, according to Military.com.

This weapon won't kill you; it will just blind you with its bedazzling laser beam. The PHASR, or personnel halting and stimulation response rifle, is essentially the equivalent of a gazillion laser pointers aimed at the eyes, designed to lead to only temporary blindness. The goal is to blind criminals or others who mean harm for long enough that they can be apprehended. However, the PHASR has one problem: The United Nations banned blinding weapons in 1995, according to an addendum to the Geneva Conventions.

Move over Thor — the military has stolen your thunder (and lightning). Engineers at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey have figured out a way to harness the power of lightning, designing a weapon that shoots lightning bolts along laser beams to kill targets. The laser-induced plasma channel, as it's called, is aimed at targets that conduct electricity better than the air or the ground, according to a press release. The laser light, with its high intensity and energy, focuses the lightning bolt to keep it along a straight and narrow path, so it can be precisely aimed at a target, according to the release.