This handout photo provided by the US Navy on April 9, 2013 shows the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), technology demonstrator built by the Naval Sea Systems Command ,temporarily installed aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105) seen in this July 30, 2012 image in San Diego, California. LaWS can be directed onto targets from the radar track obtained from a MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon system or other targeting source. The Office of Naval Research's Solid State Laser (SSL) portfolio includes LaWS development and upgrades providing a quick reaction capability for the fleet with an affordable SSL weapon prototype. This capability provides Navy ships a method for Sailors to easily defeat small boat threats and aerial targets without using bullets. AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / US NAVY == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / US NAVY / John F. Williams / NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS == (Photo by John F. Williams / US NAVY / AFP)
The US showed a test by the US military in the Pacific Ocean of laser weapons against drones. The video was posted on the USNI News Video YouTube channel.
The frames show the ship, on the bow of which the installation was placed. The video also showed the laser itself (bright beam), which is directed along the surface of the water. After that, the unmanned aerial vehicle lights up.
The tests took place on May 16 aboard the landing ship USS Portland near the base of Pearl Harbor. The command of the American Pacific Fleet specified that the military tested the so-called Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator.
In April 2019, the U.S. Air Force used a ground-based prototype laser system to successfully destroy several air launch rockets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the development of a combat laser system in March 2018 during a message to the Federal Assembly. According to the head of state, “the presence of such combat complexes expands Russia’s capabilities in its security sphere”.
In October 2018, the director of the Center for the Analysis of World Trade in Arms Igor Korotchenko said that the Russian combat laser complex “ Peresvet ” effectively works against industrial and artisan drones only in “ideal conditions”.
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