High-Energy Laser VS. Drone
A Laser Weapon System Demonstrator that uses a high-power solid-state laser is installed on the USS Portland. Recently, it was successfully tested by destroying a drone mid-flight. Are laser weapons the future of warfare?
Image by K. Kliche from Pixabay
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American research and development of a military railgun seem to have been put to ice. Or at least the U.S. Navy seems to be putting their money on energy weapons. Just a few days ago, they succeeded in testing a high-energy laser weapon that is currently installed onboard one of the American warships.
The ship in question is USS Portland with a tonnage of 25,300 tons. Its class is San Antonia and it is a modern amphibious transport dock ship meant for quick landing operations and support of the U.S. Navy infantry. Onboard, this ship is an experimental laser system with maybe a tad too long name – Solid-State Laser – Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD 0.
On the 16th of May of the year 2020 this laser system targeted and shot down a flying drone. The location and other details have not been made public yet by the navy. The LWSD system was developed by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and it is based on a solid-state laser from Northrop Grumman.
This laser is one of the energy weapon systems with which many of the most powerful militaries all over the world experiment with. One of the biggest reasons for choosing a laser weapon system is the speed of its “projectiles” as they are literally the fastest “projectiles” you can get in our Universe. Another benefit is the cost of these shots as the costs for each shot are negligible in comparison with firing an anti-air missile.
Interestingly enough, the goal of shooting down a target is not always to destroy it. The goal might be just to damage, neutralize, or just limit its functions. The Navy is hoping the tests will bring more information on the possibilities of future use of these and similar weapon systems as the Navy hopes that such weapons will change how future conflicts will look.
Sources:
- https://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/lpd27/Pages/default.aspx
- https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=113063
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