Didn’t I see this on Flash Gordon?

Picatinny engineers set phasers to ‘fry’

The Laser-Induced Plasma Channel is not actually a new idea. A laser beam is used to ionize a path through the air; a lightning bolt (for lack of a better term) is directed down that path to the target, or at least to wherever it finds a more conductive path.

ZZZZZZAP

The money quote:

“We never got tired of the lightning bolts zapping our simulated (targets),” said George Fischer, lead scientist on the project.