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.