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An incredible photo showing the US Navy firing off a drone-destroying laser weapon - called HELIOS - from one of its warships is going viral on social media. The undated image was published in the US Center for Countermeasures' annual report. It captured the warfighting laser technology being fired from the USS Preble destroyer in the middle of the ocean. The demo aimed "to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target," the report stated, as per the New York Post.
No other details about the department's test and evaluation have been released. According to the Post, the test follows the UK's successful test of its own laser weapon, DragonFire, against aerial targets last year.
All About HELIOS
The HELIOS (High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance), developed for the US by Lockheed Martin, uses a 60-kilowatt high-energy laser that can engage targets at the speed of light. According to The Defence Post, one of its most unusual features is its layered defence approach, enabling both hard and soft kills of hostile threats. While hard kill means the weapon can physically destroy its targets, soft kill allows it to disrupt the electronic components of hostile threats to disable contact with their operators.
"The HELIOS system's deep magazine, low cost per kill, speed of light delivery, and precision response enable it to address fleet needs now," Lockheed explained. "And its mature, scalable architecture supports increased laser power levels to counter additional threats in the future," it added.
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Meanwhile, several countries, including the UK, South Korea, Israel, Turkey, Germany and Japan have also developed laser weapons. Last year, South Korea announced it would soon start mass-producing laser weapons like those in the 'Star Wars' franchise to shoot down North Korean drones. South Korea named its laser program the "StarWars Project". The country's DAPA, which handles defence procurement, development and production, announced a 100 billion won contract to build the drone-killing weapon. It touted the weapon as effective and cheap and revealed that the laser is quiet and invisible, and one shot costs only 2,000 won.
The same year, the UK's Ministry of Defence also tested a laser weapon, DragonFire, which reportedly destroyed incoming drones from several miles away during a trial. With this, the ministry hopes that it will pave the way for a low-cost alternative to missiles to shoot down targets like drones. It further said that the weapon is precise enough to hit a coin from a kilometre away.
DragonFire will be used both by the Army and the Royal Navy as part of their future air defence capabilities.