Clearest Image Of US Navy’s Directed Energy Weapon Firing Laser Rounds (DEW)
Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS (High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-Dazzler and Surveillance) weapon has been successfully deployed aboard a US Navy warship. Designed to counter unmanned aerial threats, the high-energy laser weapon operates at a cost of only a few dollars per shot—an extraordinary savings for the Navy, which has a habit of spending tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per missile interception.
“The US Center for Countermeasures (CCM) supported the Navy’s demonstration on USS Preble (DDG 88) to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target. CCM collected imagery of the engagements to support the evaluation of system performance,” the annual report said.