US Navy warship USS Portland tests laser weapon to destroy aircraft mid-air - Watch

NEW YORK: Laser weapons are soon going to be a reality with the United States of America Navy claiming to have successfully used one such advanced system to shoot down an aircraft during a test on March 16, 2020. 

According to a press release and video released by the US Pacific Fleet the amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) demonstrated the latest fire-power technology by shooting down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a Solid State Laser - Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD over the ocean.

The Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, headquartered US Pacific Fleet's USS Portland used the Laser Weapon System Demonstrator developed by the Office of Naval Research and Northrop Grumman. The demonstration is the "first system-level implementation of a high-energy class solid-state laser", according to the statement released on May 22.

USS Portland commanding officer Captain Karrey Sanders stated the test was carried out to confirm the capabilities of the new system. "By conducting advanced at sea tests against UAVs and small crafts, we will gain valuable information on the capabilities of the Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator against potential threats," said Captain Karrey Sanders.

"The Solid-State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator is a unique capability the Portland gets to test and operate for the Navy, while paving the way for future weapons systems. With this new advanced capability, we are redefining war at sea for the Navy," Captain Sanders added.

While the US has been developing directed-energy weapons (DEWs), to include lasers, since the 1960s, the LWSD which will replace the American military's first fully approved laser platform Laser Weapon System (LaWS) was deployed to the USS Portland only in 2019. 

While the US Navy did not release the details of the LWSD, an International Institute for Strategic Studies report in 2018 claims the system was a 150-kilowatt laser. On the other hand, the LaWS is just a 30-kilowatt system but can still bring down small aircraft.

According to the US Navy, DEWs are electromagnetic systems which can convert chemical or electrical energy to radiated energy and focus the same on a target, to either degrade, neutralise, defeat, or destroy the enemy.