The video shows a laser beam emerging from the weapon system on the USS Portland and then goes on to show a drone hit by the same.
The US Navy's 'USS Portland' ship had on May 16 tested a laser weapon capable of destroying aerial, sea, and land-based threats, a press release by the Pacific Fleet six days later informed, adding that the new weapon will be "redefining war at sea for the Navy."
The 'USS Portland' is the 11th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship of the United States of America Navy, the May 22 release elaborated. The laser weapon that was fired is formally called the "Solid-State Laser-Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD"
The laser weapon was fired over the Pacific Ocean to bring down an unmanned aerial vehicle, for the purpose of testing.
"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," asserted USS Portland commanding officer Captain Karrey Sanders in Friday's press release.
"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 Karrey Sanders went on to state.
The video released by the US Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, shows a laser beam emerging from the weapon system on the USS Portland and then goes on to show a drone hit by the same.
Developed by Naval Research and Northrop Grumman, the Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) on the USS Portland demonstrated the "first system-level implementation of a high-energy class solid-state laser", the US Pacific Fleet statement added.
Directed-energy weapons (DEWs) in including lasers have been under development in the US since the 1960s. 'USS Portland' already has the US military's first fully approved laser platform Laser Weapon System (LaWS) since 2019 and the LWSD is the more powerful version of system.
Accoring to a 2018 report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies report, the LWSD is a 150-kilowatt laser while the LaWS uses 30 kilowatts. The LaWS, too, can shoot down small aircraft.
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 "Photo released by US Navy Pacific Fleet")
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