Now this is what we really need, a death ray for our cutters.
“The LaWS is essentially a laser upgrade to the MK 15 Close In Weapon System (CIWS), a.k.a. the Phalanx gun, a radar-guided autocannon that is already installed on Navy surface combatants. According to NAVSEA, the system tested fired a laser through a beam director installed on a tracking mount, which in turn was controlled by a Mk 15 CIWS. That’s the basically same system that controls the Phalanx.”
Read the whole story at the link here. We do already have the CIWS on our WHECs and National Security Cutters and expect to have them on the Offshore Patrol Cutters.
It’s not April First is it?
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
Pingback: Tweets that mention What’s next? A laser death ray for our major cutters - CGBlog.org -- Topsy.com
Could we use this to target the engine on a fleeing boat?
How about turning down the heat and using it as a non-lethal way to get the bad guys to stop?
As a kid, I used to troop off to the local theater and catch that week’s Buck Rogers (with Buster Crabbe) serial. Although it was unpopular (see, I started early), I liked the Death Ray that was, in the 1970s, turned into the sex ray in that version of “Buck Rogers.”
A ray beam to zap someone seemed more humane than driving a piece of steel covered lead.
A statement that the Navy is only two years away from fielding a laser weapon, and it likely will be tied to the Phalanx CIWS: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223193/U-S-Navy-just-years-away-arming-warships-laser-weapons-capable-destroying-incoming-missiles-aircraft.html
Interestingly it is seen as a secondary weapon for engaging less demanding targets, saving money and munitions for more demanding targets. They claim a laser shot can cost only one dollar.
Video here: