For those of you who like conspiracy theories might get a kick outa this. I would take it with a grain of salt though. But who knows eh?
http://www.serendipity.li/wot/bollyn1.htm
Narf the image on the CBS page is not CG. I have seen the same image in many other places of much higher quality and have seen an actual video demonstrating that. (Couldn't find a place where the video is available Online. Sorry. The video clip I saw of it was on the History Channel, a show about future combat hardware I believe.)
As to the size. You are only seeing the top part that targets and fires the laser. Not the power sources etc. The whole laser is actually much larger than shown in the picture. In fact those soldiers are standing on it.