Why The Navy Wants To Fall In Love With Laser Weapons -- Popular Mechanics
Beam weapons promise to counter potential enemies' newest tools—like drones and missiles—and do it on the cheap. But are these weapons ready for prime time?
As most of the Pentagon development programs wring their hands with budget worries, there is one area of research that is celebrating a banner week/month—Navy lasers. "I think directed-energy weapons will change the dynamic of warfare at sea," Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research, told a crowd at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Conference and Exposition this week.
It made international news this week when the Navy's Chief of Operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, announced the 2014 deployment of a warship to the Persian Gulf—one equipped with a new laser weapon that can burn unmanned aerial vehicles out of the sky. The Pentagon even released a video from a test showing that very act.
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My Comment: Rockets cost an enormous amount of money to make .... lasers are a different story .... or at least that is what the US Navy is hoping for.