US laser weapon program hits a glaring blind spot

While broadly touted as the future of shipboard point and missile defense, laser weapons have been glaringly absent in the US-led coalition strikes against Iranian-supplied drones and missiles used by Houthi forces in Yemen to attack commercial vessels and warships in the Red Sea.

This month, Breaking Defense reported that Rear Admiral Fred Pyle, the US Navy’s director of surface warfare requirements, has expressed frustration with the current pace of laser weapon system development.

Pyle believes that the US Navy and American defense industry need to be more intellectually honest about what is possible with laser weapons, noting a tendency by both to overpromise and underdeliver.

Breaking Defense notes that the US Navy has sought to develop a capability that would enable a sailor underway to fire a laser that knocks down an enemy drone or takes out a small boat.

The report mentions Lockheed Martin’s experimental HELIOS laser aboard the USS Preble (DDG-88) as an example of a project that aims to bring the concept closer to real-world applications.

However, the source notes that Vice Admiral Brendan McLane, the US Navy’s top surface warfare officer, has expressed frustrations with the navy’s current pace of laser weapon system development, emphasizing that laser weapons must deliver on their promise of negligible cost per shot.

Pyle said that laser weapons need physical, weight, power and cooling space that may be unavailable to current US surface combatants. The report also quotes Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro expressing concerns that laser weapon development has taken a long time to bear results.

While currently available US shipboard air defense weapons are effective, their high cost per shot and limited