NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.–The Navy plans to deploy a solid-state laser on a ship early next year that has been successfully tested against unmanned aerial vehicles and could be used to counter threats in the Strait of Hormuz.
The plans to place the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) on the USS Ponce, an old amphibious transport dock ship converted to operate as a forward staging base, in early 2014, was announced by Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, the chief of the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and Rear. Adm. Thomas Eccles, the deputy director at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) for engineering.
The Ponce is deployed with the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which covers the Persian Gulf region, where the Navy frequently has close encounters with Iran. The system is expected to be deployed for at least a year, Klunder said.
Speaking at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space symposium just outside Washington, Klunder showed a video of LaWS lighting up a small drone and sending it plummeting in flames into the ocean off the San Diego coast. That was one of three tests carried out in August and September of last year aboard the USS Dewey (DDG-105) destroyer. It was successful in all three tests and in nine previous tests involving UAVs and small boats.
“We think this is a very compelling weapon system for today and into the future,” Klunder said.
The Navy has been developing LaWS for years as part of an overall effort to introduce directed energy systems onto ships as a way to save the spaced required by munition-oriented weapons, as well as to save money. Klunder said firing LaWS costs less than $1 per shot.
“If we can generate the power, then we can take a shot,” Klunder said.
Eccles said placing LaWS on the Ponce will involve fully integrating the weapon with the ship, and he added that it can operate off existing combat systems. He said during the testing LaWS utilized the tracking system on the Phalanx Close-in Weapons System (CWIS), which is a massive Gatling gun deployed as most Navy ships for self-defense.
The admirals would not disclose the laser’s power level, saying it was classified. Eccles did say, however, it amounted to the power required in a standard industrial laser.
Klunder said the drone used in the test was on the smaller side, but said the laser was capable of destroying larger targets.
“Smaller targets are harder to hit than larger targets,” he said.