Directed energy weapons that use wave beams to cause pain, and electrical brain stimulation that boosts a soldier's combat ability - it may sound like science fiction warfare, but experts say advances in neuroscience mean it's on the horizon. Rapid progress in the ability to map brain activity and manipulate its responses with stimulants could change the face of warfare, a panel of experts said on Tuesday.

Directed-energy weapons are being paired with traditional cannons to produce advanced shipboard defense against people, small arms, light boats and unmanned aircraft using non-lethal and low-power devices.

The Indian Defense Research and Development Organization is working on a range of directed energy weapons, from laser dazzlers to control rioting crowds to high-powered lasers to destroy incoming missiles.

Advances in the technology have made it possible for military testers to shoot down incoming mortar rounds with land-based lasers, and military commanders are on the verge of being able to fire laser blasts from the air that could be aimed at tanks or mines.

The U.S. Office of Naval Research recently asked scientists and gadget-makers to send in their ideas for projects that will “form the foundation” for tomorrow’s “Counter Directed Energy Weapons (CDEW)” as the Navy begins to prepare for the threat of Directed Energy Weapons to surface ships.

The Pentagon's efforts to develop a beam weapon that can deter an adversary by causing a burning sensation on their skin has taken a step forward with the development of a small, potentially hand-held, version. The weapon, which is claimed to cause no permanent harm, could also end up being used by police to control civilians.

Despite concerns over legal and safety issues, the Pentagon is moving ahead with the Active Denial System or "Pain Ray" by seeking to upgrade it so that it can be fired from an aircraft.

High-energy laser weapons have been hailed as the future of anti-missile defence, but they may be further from being battle-ready than military chiefs hoped. In recent tests, several prototypes have suffered serious damage to their optics at intensities well below the expected levels of tolerance. There are also big problems managing the waste heat generated by high-intensity beams.

Electromagnetic pulse weapons capable of frying the electronics in civil airliners can be built using information and components freely available on the internet, according to counterterrorism experts. All it would take to bring a plane down would be a single but highly energetic microwave radio pulse blasted from a device inside a plane, or on the ground and trained at an aircraft coming in to land.

In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser -- past the "100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for 'weapons grade' power levels for high-energy lasers."