Check out this story from CNN on the U.S. Navy’s first active laser weapon. The cutting-edge prototype Laser Weapon System (LaWS), developed by the Navy’s Office of Naval Research, was first deployed aboard the USS Ponce in 2014, and is operated by a video-game like controller, and can address multiple threats using a range of escalating options, from non-lethal measures such as optical “dazzling” and disabling, to lethal destruction if necessary. During live tests, the LaWS was used to hit targets mounted aboard a speeding oncoming small boat, shoot a Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) out of the sky, and destroy other moving targets at sea.
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