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Navy/USMC

Navy Leaders See Battleship As Force Function For Lasers, Zumwalt As Testbed For Battleship

Tuesday, February 10th, 2026

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Navy Leaders See Battleship As Force Function For Lasers, Zumwalt As Testbed For Battleship

Artist rendering of Lockheed Martin's HELIOS laser weapons system used on an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. (Image: Lockheed Martin)

SAN DIEGO – Top Navy officers this week argued the Trump-class battleship may become a “forcing function” to bolster the demand signal for laser weapon development while the Zumwalt-class destroyer may become a testbed for future battleship weapons. The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) told reporters here on Tuesday that since conducting his Naval Postgraduate School thesis work on high energy lasers, he has been a big supporter of using megawatt-class power levers for ship and base defense while also…

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