American warship downs drones with laser weapon

The US Navy has confirmed that a frontline destroyer has successfully used a ship-mounted laser weapon to defeat multiple uncrewed aerial threats during a recent at-sea demonstration.

According to Lockheed Martin, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble employed its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system, known as HELIOS, to engage and neutralise four drones during a Navy-run counter-UAS event. The activity took place last year and was disclosed publicly as part of the company’s latest financial update.

Lockheed Martin chief executive Jim Taiclet said the demonstration showed how lasers could provide a practical alternative to traditional missile-based defences for close-range threats. He described the system as having successfully knocked incoming uncrewed aircraft out of the sky, highlighting the potential to conserve expensive interceptor missiles for higher-end targets.

“Speaking of amazing technology, we successfully used the shipboard laser system, Lockheed Martin’s Helios, to knock an incoming UAV right out of the sky. The Helios weapon system successfully neutralised four drone threats in a US Navy-operated counter-UAS drone demonstration at sea, showcasing an opportunity to eliminate drone attacks using lasers and saving US and allied air defence missiles for more advanced threats.

This development of laser weapon systems is just one example of Lockheed Martin’s support of the Homeland Defence Mission, including Golden Dome for America. We also continue to collaborate with government and industry in our prototyping environment at our Center for Innovation in Virginia to support the command and control aspects of Golden Dome.”

HELIOS is a roughly 60-kilowatt class laser integrated directly into the Aegis Combat System, allowing it to be operated alongside conventional radar, sensors and weapons. Installed aboard USS Preble, a Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the system is designed to perform both so-called soft-kill functions, such as dazzling or degrading optical sensors, and hard-kill engagements by heating and damaging the structure of a target.