LONDON， Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Ministry of Defense (MOD) announced Thursday it has awarded a 30-million-pound(37.22 million U.S. dollars) contract for the building and development of a laser gun prototype demonstrator to a European consortium.

Known as the UK Dragonfire consortium， the group is being led by British defense company MBDA and includes defense companies from across Britain and Europe， including QinetiQ， Leonardo-Finmeccanica GKN， Arke， BAE Systems and Marshall ADG.

The project will assess innovative Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) technologies and approaches， culminating in a demonstration of the laser system in 2019.

The contract will assess how the system can pick up and track targets at various ranges and in varied weather conditions over land and water， to allow precision use， said the MOD in a statement issued in London.

Laser weapons have the potent be used to destroy drone aircraft， missiles， mortars， roadside bombs and a host of other threats， say defense experts.

"The project will inform decisions on the future of the program and help the MOD's Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) establish a road map to an in-service capability. If it is successful， the first laser weapons would come into service in the mid-2020s，" said a MOD spokesman.

Minister for Defense Procurement， Harriet Baldwin said:"The MOD's investment in such innovative solutions demonstrates how the government's equipment plan， supported by a rising Defense budget， is ensuring our armed forces have the most effective and innovative capability available."

Dstl's Peter Cooper said:" This is a significant demonstration program aimed at maturing our understanding of what is still an immature technology. It draws on innovative research into high power lasers so as to understand the potential of the technology to provide a more effective response to the emerging threats that could be faced by UK armed forces."

Theo Brophy Clews of London Irish kicks a penalty during the Aviva Premiership match against Exeter Chiefs on February 21 in Reading www.airmaxplusitalia.it , England. Photo: CFP

This weekend marks an historic first for rugby union's Aviva Premiership as English club sides London Irish and Saracens relocate from England's capital to New Jersey's Red Bull Arena. The game is part of the domestic season despite its exotic location and is an attempt by Premiership Rugby to grow their brand in the US. The scheduling is canny, it's no accident that London Irish are playing in the run up to St. Patrick's Day - a festival that is celebrated with much gusto in that part of the world - in what is the first of three US-based games for the club scheduled over the next three seasons. The stated aim is to half-fill the 25,000-capacity home of the New York Red Bulls at the first attempt scarpe nike air max plus italia , increase by half again next year and fill it for the 2018 fixture.

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Arsenal and Manchester United are two Premier League teams that are owned by chairmen who also own an NFL franchise. They are also two clubs who were at the recent meeting between the English Premier League's so-called "big five" at London's Dorchester Hotel. The media represented the summit as discussing a breakaway European superleague but the clubs confirmed that they discussed possible changes to the current Champions League format and participation in the International Champions Cup. The latter tournament is the brainchild of Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and began in 2013. Last year it involved 15 top sides from across Europe and the US in three different tournaments based in Melbourne, three cities in China Nike Air Max TN Uomo Nere Verdi Italia , Europe and the US.

Going global

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