U.S. Navy Laser Gun Demonstration - "LaWS" Laser Weapon System

Less than a dollar a shot--- The US Navy deployed a high-tech weapon that could change the face of warfare more than any other invention since gunpowder. And, simply by the performance demonstrated in initial trials, it has already rendered obsolete a wide swathe of existing weapons, which it will soon replace, thanks to capabilities that are superior by any measure. The weapon is the 30-kilowatt Laser Weapon System (LaWS) that the US Navy installed aboard USS Ponce as part of a joint $40 million research and development effort by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to test the operational viability of directed energy weapons.

LaWS is by no means the first laser weapon to be tested or demonstrated, but it is the first to have actually attained Initial Operating Capability (IOC) by virtue of being deployed in a combat theater even though this milestone has not been officially recognized.

In the short term, the LaWS will likely pose a mortal threat to makers of medium-calibre artillery and short-range air-defense missiles, but if the technology can be adapted to a bigger scale it could eventually replace all line-of-sight weapons in military inventories.

Laser weapons are not a distant prospect. Under ONR's Solid-State Laser-Technology Maturation program, industry teams have already been selected to “develop cost-effective, combat-ready laser prototypes that could be installed on vessels such as guided-missile destroyers and the Littoral Combat Ship in the early 2020s,” the US Navy stated in its Dec. 10 release on LaWS testing.

In addition to its capabilities, the LaWS has an irresistible edge over existing weapons: "At less than a dollar per shot, there's no question about the value LaWS provides," ONR chief Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder told reporters Dec 10. "With affordability a serious concern for our defense budgets, this will more effectively manage resources to ensure our sailors and marines are never in a fair fight." Other media report Klunder as saying each shot costs $0.59.

Videos taken during operational tests in the Persian Gulf show a weapon that is already remarkably effective, capable of punching through admittedly thin steel plate, and of destroying with a single pulse a small weapon fitted to a small boat moving at high speed. At can also, at low power, be used to “dazzle” a target and its sensors.

The US Navy said that during the tests “LaWS hit targets mounted aboard a speeding oncoming small boat, shot a Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) out of the sky, and destroyed other moving targets at sea,” and “performed flawlessly, including in adverse weather conditions of high winds, heat and humidity….[and] exceeded expectations for both reliability and maintainability.”

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