© REUTERS/ John Williams/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters
Mike Fabey & Kris Osborn, National Interest: The U.S. Navy is Moving at Warp Speed to Develop Super Lasers
Laser weapons will be developed through a three-phased approach in order to fire the weapon from destroyers at cruise missiles, drones, aircraft and small boats.
The U.S. Navy is moving at warp speed to develop lasers with more lethality, precision and power sources as a way to destroy attacking missiles, drones aircraft and other threats.
“We’re doing a lot more with lasers,” Rear Adm. Ronald Boxall, director, Surface Warfare Division, said earlier this month at the annual Surface Naval Association national symposium.
The Navy plans to fire a 150-kw weapon off a test ship within a year, he said. “Then a year later, we’ll have that on a carrier or a destroyer or both.”
That’s quite a jump from the kw AN/SEQ-3(XN-1) Laser Weapon System (LaWS), which deployed in 2014 on the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce.
Read more ….
Update: US Navy Prepares to Fire 150-Kilowatt Laser Gun From Sea Vessels (Sputnik)
WNU Editor: The U.S. Congress is ready to pour money into this US Navy program as well as other laser programs …. Congress Wants Mattis To Play With Lasers (Daily Caller).
