Source: U.S. Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel M. Young via Bloomberg Click on the photo to enlarge.
Bloomberg.com is reporting the deployment of a laser weapon on the interim Afloat Forward Staging Base, Ponce, formerly LSD-15.
One of the more interesting aspects of the device from a Coast Guard perspective is that it can also be used in a non-lethal mode.
The device can emit progressively stronger beams, first to warn an adversary, and then destroy it if necessary, Chief of Naval Research Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder said at a Bloomberg Government session this year.
The laser can be adjusted to fire a non-lethal dazzling flash at an incoming vessel so they know it’s there “all the way to lethal,” Klunder said. The laser’s range is classified.
Current state and future plans. Interesting they have found it useful for surveillance as well: http://www.wsj.com/articles/navy-tests-laser-weapon-on-drones-boats-1418182202
Watch this, the accuracy is incredible.
Yes but if you carefully watch the video they are lasing a munition of some sort (perhaps a mortar or rpg round) to get a nice secondary explosion for the camera. Does the laser actually do anything useful against a surface target or does it just burn holes in the hull.
I think it was an RPG round. If it just hits metal, it will not make an explosion because, of course, it projects no explosive of its own. This it only a prototype and the next generation is expected to be more than twice as powerful, but the accuracy is pretty incredible. Being able to target a warhead makes the other guys’ weapons dangerous to them. It appears, what they were simulating, was an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp boat with a 107mm multiple rocket launcher.
A compact and powerful, largely self contained, laser weapon appears ready to deploy. http://www.eaglespeak.us/2015/04/well-it-is-21st-century-third-gen.html
Navy expects to put laser weapons on new carriers. Some info from the post:
“Lasers need to get up to about 300 kilowatts to start making them effective.”
They intend to have energy storage devices too.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/06/16/navy-plans-to-fire-lasers-from-carriers.html
Laser weapons seem to be getting smaller and potentially cheaper. http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-introduces-a-laser-cannon-to-shoot-down-drones-2015-8?r=UK&IR=T
Contract to develop a laser weapon and try it out on the former Spruance class destroyer Paul Foster. http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3394