U.S. Navy sees shipboard laser weapon coming soon

The U.S. Navy's LAWS laser weapon demonstrator, temporarily installed aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey.

(Credit: U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams)

The U.S. Navy is continuing its flirtation with laser weapons.

The latest tip-toeing move toward a more serious relationship came today with word from the Navy that it plans to deploy a solid-state laser weapon system aboard the USS Ponce in fiscal year 2014. Other than that, though, the announcement was absent any details about the capabilities of the particular laser weapon system or the expectations for its performance, though the Navy talked up the virtues of laser weapons in general as a countermeasure against threats including aerial drones and fast-moving small boats.

The Navy also described the deployment as an "at-sea demonstration," suggesting that this will be yet another in a string of test-the-waters efforts that have long characterized the Pentagon's dalliances with directed-energy weapons. Indeed, the Navy said that following the USS Ponce demonstration, it and the Defense Department will "continue to research ways to integrate affordable laser weapons into the fleet."<... [Read more]