Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

US Navy Plans to Deploy Laser Weapon

posted by Dopefish on Wednesday February 19 2014, @10:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the shoop-da-woop dept.

Sir Garlon writes:

"According to the Associated Press, the US Navy has announced plans to actually deploy an operational laser weapon aboard the USS Ponce later this year.

The solid-state laser weapon system is designed to target what the Navy describes as 'asymmetrical threats.' Those include aerial drones, speed boats and swarm boats, all potential threats to warships in the Persian Gulf, where the Ponce, a floating staging base, is set to be deployed.

'It fundamentally changes the way we fight,' said Capt. Mike Ziv, program manager for directed energy and electric weapon systems for the Naval Sea Systems Command."

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
US Navy Plans to Deploy Laser Weapon | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 36 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 1) by unitron on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:17AM

    by unitron (70) on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:17AM (#3112) Journal

    Sharks everywhere eagerly await return to full employment and high paying high-tech jobs.

    But seriously, asymmetric doesn't mean "one side is much bigger", it means the two sides don't have a mirror symmetry to each other, regardless of relative size.

    So symmetric warfare might be each side has a similar sized army, similar sized navy, and similar sized air power.

    Asymmetric could be one side has a few big ships and the other side has a zillion PT boats.

    --
    something something Slashcott something something Beta something something