The Navy’s first-of-a-kind laser deployed on a vessel sailing in the Persian Gulf has been declared operational and can be used by the crew to defend itself against potential threats, the service’s head of the Office of Naval Research said on Wednesday.
Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder told reporters on a conference call that Central Command has been green lighted to use the laser in the event of a threat, approval that has been passed along to the ship’s commanding officer. The 30-kilowat laser, known as the Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, was installed on the USS
Ponce in August.
The ship later departed for the Persian Gulf and the LaWS successfully carried out operational testing recently by striking a fast attack boat and drone, Klunder said, adding that this marks the “historic” first ever operational deployment of a directed energy weapon.
Klunder said the Navy has not engaged a real threat with the laser, but “we could.” The Office of Naval Research oversaw the development of the prototype LaWS at a cost of about $40 million. He has touted the laser as a way to reduce cost associated with munitions or missiles to take out threats, noting that a laser shot would cost less than a dollar.
The LaWS is fully integrated into the ship and its combat system, and is not a stand-alone weapon, Klunder said.
Klunder would not reveal the range of the laser. The target drone in the video released by the Navy appeared to be a catapult-launched ScanEagle, a small aircraft built by Boeing’s [BA] Insitu subsidiary.
The LaWS will remain deployed on the Ponce for a year and the Navy will continuously learn along the way and refine the system, Klunder said.
The next step for the program is to develop an even more powerful kilowatt laser for striking larger threats. Klunder said discussions are already underway with Naval Sea Systems Command to identify ships that could carry the next version of LaWS, including the possibility of destroyers or cruisers to get more extensive use of the system.
He said he was confident that it could operate on just about any ship. Placing it on the Ponce, an Afloat Forward Staging Base, required adding only more power and cooling, he said.
Klunder said much of the laser technology was commercially based but beefed up by the Navy, which also developed internal “secret sauce” software and other capabilities to operate LaWS.
Klunder said the Navy will not use the laser technology to directly hit people as per the Geneva Conventions, but said the goal is to strike the boats or aircraft people may be on.
“It’s more effective if we take out the platform,” he said.