The Navy could become a laser powerhouse

Summary: Despite more than a decade of research and investment in high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-power microwaves (HPM), the U.S. Navy has yet to effectively deploy these technologies.

-Vice Admiral Brendan McLane criticized the slow progress compared to advances such as the UK's DragonFire, which demonstrated pinpoint accuracy.

-The US Navy is developing systems like HELIOS, which can be integrated into existing ships, but high development costs and deployment challenges remain.

-However, the long-term financial benefits of lasers, costing less than $1 per shot, make them a worthwhile investment.

Can the US Navy catch up? Advances and Challenges of Laser Weapons

“When I was in Bahrain, [the Destroyer Squadron 50 commanding officer] “Ten years ago, the USS Ponce afloat transit base was equipped with a laser,” Vice Adm. Brendan McLane told reporters before the Surface Navy Association conference a few months ago, the Navy reported Times. “We're 10 years in and we're still you don't have something we can implement? »

As the Navy Times also noted, “high-energy lasers, or HELs, and high-power microwaves, or HPMs, would give the surface fleet another weapon to counter aerial threats, including vehicles unmanned aerial vehicles and rockets. Despite decades of research and development and billions of dollars spent on a threat like the one the Navy currently faces in the Red Sea, such systems have yet to be meaningfully integrated into the surface fleet and the military at large, according to outside analysts and service leaders.

It is further worth adding that McLane's comments come as the Royal Navy recently tested its DragonFire platform, capable of striking a £1 coin from a distance of up to a kilometer, the UK ministry announced of Defense (MoD).

In addition to its pinpoint accuracy, the UK's DragonFire platform can engage targets at the speed of light, while its intense beam of light can literally pass through the target, leading to structural failure or more impactful results – for example if the warhead of an incoming missile is targeted.

So why doesn't the US Navy have a HEL similar to DragonFire?

It's not for lack of trying: technology that once existed only in the realm of science fiction is slowly becoming reality.

This means that, soon, the US Navy could become a veritable laser powerhouse.

United States Air Force efforts

Last summer, the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Raytheon Technologies announced the first successful test of the Air Force's first high-energy palletized laser weapon. The tests were conducted during four days of continuous live-fire exercises at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Known as the “H4,” the palletized laser weapon was developed to protect people and property against short-range aerial threats. It successfully passed the Air Force Test and Evaluation Plan, which included several days of live-fire exercises to acquire, target, track and destroy drone targets in close-range attack scenarios , swarm attack and long-range threat.

The H4 is the fourth operational laser weapon system that Raytheon Technologies has delivered to the United States Air Force. It is also the eighth complete system the company has delivered to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Make the dew

Also known as “directed energy weapons” (DEW), they are considered an important force multiplier, which is why so much emphasis has been placed on their development. These include efforts in high-power microwave (HPM) and high-energy laser (HEL) systems.

The U.S. Navy has been working for more than a decade on various efforts to equip warships with laser weapons that could disrupt or destroy enemy systems. The service's budget request for fiscal year 2023 (FY23) included more than $103 million to support a half-dozen laser weapon concepts.

In August 2022, Lockheed Martin announced that it had delivered a 60+ kW class high-energy laser with integrated optical dazzler and surveillance (HELIOS) to the US Navy. It was the first tactical laser weapon system that could be integrated into existing ships and provide directed energy capability to the fleet.

Seemingly integrated and scalable by design, the HELIOS multi-mission system would be able to provide a tactically relevant laser weapon system combat capability as a key element of the multi-tiered defense architecture. The HELIOS system could also support long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

Lockheed Martin was awarded the Increment 1 contract for the Naval Surface Laser Weapon System (SNLWS), known as HELIOS, in January 2018 and has made steady progress on this rapid, directed-energy prototype.

Cost savings on lasers

Although developing these weapons could be expensive, in the long run it would be a truly worthwhile investment.

As the Navy Times reported a few months ago, DEWs could help warships conserve their respective limited munitions reserves while on station. The more than 60 confirmed drone and missile interceptions that targeted U.S. Navy warships and commercial vessels in the Red Sea relied largely on the Standard Missile-2, or SM-2, although those responsible for the service refused to say precisely what was fired. each commitment.

One of the obvious advantages of lasers and other DEWs is their price. Rather than spending on missiles that cost tens of thousands to millions of dollars each to manufacture, a laser relies solely on electrical power, which can be generated for less than $1 per shot.

Experience and expertise of the author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a writer based in Michigan. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites with more than 3,200 published articles during a twenty-year career in journalism. He writes regularly on military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing writer for Forbes and Liquidation Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can send an email to the author: [email protected].

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