U.S. Navy "should be embarrassed" by lack of lasers, says admiral
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The USS Portland tests a high-energy laser in the Gulf of Aden in 2021. Photo: Donald Holbert
The U.S. Navy seems to be in directed-energy limbo. Leaders want it. Industry and labs have it. But the vast majority of warships don't.
Why it matters: These sci-fi-style weapons have limitations but can help fend off unmanned aircraft, missiles and more. Those overhead threats are already pounding the Red Sea and Ukraine and would figure prominently in a conflict with China over Taiwan.
- The Pentagon cannot afford to always blast $20,000 drones slapped together in a garage with multimillion-dollar missiles that take weeks to manufacture.
- The polite way of discussing this is by citing the "cost curve."
Driving the news: At a breakfast on the sidelines of the Surface Navy Association conference, Fleet Forces Command boss Adm. Daryl Caudle told reporters he was "embarrassed" by the absence of directed energy on U.S. vessels.
- "We've literally been messing with this since I was in postgraduate school, since the Strategic Defense Initiative under" former President Reagan, he said.
- Pressed, Caudle offered: "I just think sometimes something can stare us right in the face, but we just don't go do it."
- It's "one of those things that either industry, politically, leadership — we're just not on the same page of getting behind it with a sense of urgency and making it ready to go."
My thought bubble: The candor is appreciated.
- Directed-energy success requires, much like other products, clear and consistent demand from buyers.
- It also wants for a shored-up supply chain. These weapons require pricey components and specialty materials, such as germanium and gallium.
State of play: The Pentagon has recently spent $1 billion annually developing directed-energy weapons, sometimes shortened to DEW.
- Dozens of projects are underway, according to an Emerging Technologies Institute study published last January.
- Eight were publicly traced to the Navy; nine to the Army (including the closely watched Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense and Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High-Power Microwave); and another nine to the Air Force.
- The Marine Corps recently pulled the plug on its Compact Laser Weapons System, according to the Laser Wars blog, written by Jared Keller.
What they're saying: "I stood here last year and said I was not satisfied with the progress on directed energy, and after a year of repairs, fleet experiments, site visits and lots of learning, I'm still dissatisfied," Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, the top surface warfare officer, told conference attendees.
The other side: The U.K. defense ministry last year announced successful tests of the DragonFire laser, said to cost £10 per shot, and a separate laser mounted to a Wolfhound troop carrier.
- MBDA and QinetiQ are involved with the former. Raytheon UK is involved with the latter.
What's next: Lockheed Martin this year hopes to squeeze in at-sea trials of its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance. It's installed on the guided-missile destroyer Preble, based in Japan.
- "We've tested it on land. We believe it works really well," Paul Lemmo, vice president of integrated warfare systems and sensors, told Axios.
- "We shot down some simulated cruise missiles."
