Navy requests $300 million to develop shipboard defensive laser weapons

The U.S. Navy proposed spending $299 million in Fiscal Year 2019 on laser systems to protect ships against current and anticipated future threats, as part of a rapid prototyping, experimentation, and demonstration initiative. Navy officials consider laser weapons technology to be a more cost-efficient and effective tool to protect ships from emerging threats, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and small patrol craft that could swarm a surface ship. The Navy wants to purchase four ship-mounted Surface Navy Laser Weapon Systems (SNLWS), which include a High Energy Laser with an integrated low-power laser dazzler, to provide ships with a new means of countering UAVs, fast inshore attack craft, and adversary intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.