U.S. Navy Building ‘Portable’ Laser Weapon

The U.S. Navy wants the smallest ever high-energy laser weapon, which it describes as ‘portable.’ As we will see, it is not exactly a laser rifle, but it is a step on the way.

Laser weapons are now a battlefield reality; the U.S. Navy deployed the LAWS laser on the U.S.S. Ponce back in 2016. However, so far we have only seen large weapons – laser cannon, so to speak – mounted on ships or other vehicles. Miniaturization is on the way.

According to the contract notice last month, laser specializes MZA Associates of Albuquerque, New Mexico, will “will design, develop, deliver, integrate, test and demonstrate a compact, portable, low-cost and reliable C-UAS HELWS” – this last alphabetic jumble being short for…