The US Navy's top admiral says lasers are key to keeping cheap drones from eating into warship missile magazines

The US Navy's apical admiral sees laser weapons arsenic a strategical reply to the costs situation of combating inexpensive drones.

The Navy has been looking to laser and directed-energy weapons arsenic a perchance cheaper intends of neutralizing uncrewed systems, preserving constricted and overmuch much costly interceptor missiles for higher-end threats. Laser weaponry, however, has been tricky to develop, arsenic its effectiveness successful combat depends heavy connected power, cooling, and different shipboard systems.

In a Wednesday op-ed for The Washington Post, Adm. Daryl Caudle, main of naval operations, identified the costs imbalance of utilizing multimillion-dollar interceptors to return retired low-cost drones arsenic a "defining situation for the US Navy."

"Recent conflicts person demonstrated really quickly low-cost drones, one-way onslaught craft and different comparatively inexpensive weapons tin unit moreover precocious aerial and rocket defenses," the admiral explained, cautioning that "a defender who fires multimillion-dollar interceptors against inexpensive drones whitethorn triumph the contiguous engagement while losing the larger run of endurance."

"This is why directed power weapons — particularly high-powered lasers — matter strategically," Caudle said.

As the oversea work battled the Iran-backed Houthis successful Yemen from October 2023 to May 2025, Navy warships routinely relied connected missiles to destruct drone threats. The Navy besides regularly utilized apical interceptors to combat ballistic missiles, straining stocks.

Last year, Adm. James Kilby, the acting main of naval operations astatine that time, told Business Insider that the measurement the work had been heavily leaning connected its interceptors successful the Middle East would not beryllium sustainable successful a high-tempo fight.

During his July 2025 confirmation proceeding for the CNO position, Caudle told the Senate Committee connected Armed Services that the Navy faced a "learning curve" choosing the correct weapons.

He said that lessons from the Red Sea led the Navy to look to cheaper air-to-air weapons and physics warfare erstwhile possible, but further information is necessary.

The warfare pinch Iran this year, which has seen the US subject look some drone and rocket threats, has besides demonstrated really quickly American forces tin expend cardinal stockpiles of high-value protect munitions. The fighting added to concerns already sharpened by the Red Sea run complete really agelong US interceptor stockpiles mightiness past successful a lengthy conflict.

While the defense manufacture is expediting and expanding the accumulation of captious munitions, caller conflicts have turned up the unit connected the subject to find much cost-effective, much sustainable solutions for defending against ample numbers of drones.

Laser weapons are a promising capacity to meet that threat and sphere those stockpiles, Caudle wrote, arguing that "lasers connection the anticipation of shifting portion of naval defense distant from finite stored munitions toward shipboard electrical power."

That said, "lasers are not magic weapons," he wrote.

Lasers are line-of-sight weapons bound by combat realities for illustration the atmosphere, water environment, beam spot and accuracy, and powerfulness and cooling requirements. To decently support laser weaponry, warships request capable powerfulness and the correct coolants to support it from overheating. That intends vessel creation has to beryllium considered alongside limb design.

Caudle stressed that laser weapons are not a replacement for high-end interceptor missiles. Instead, he added, directed-energy capabilities should beryllium deployed arsenic portion of a larger, layered defense, employed against definite lower-cost threats.

The admiral said that the Navy needs to commencement incrementally readying the oversea work for laser weaponry pinch much manageable, self-contained systems connected ships alternatively than waiting for "perfect megawatt-class systems."

He said that specified systems would not correspond a "final answer," but alternatively "a applicable span betwixt promising exertion and an operational capacity the fleet tin study from, improve, and scale."

The Navy has been moving connected laser weapons for years, evaluating them for maritime missions astatine its Directed Energy Systems Integration Laboratory successful California.

The oversea work installed an early operational laser demonstrator, the Laser Weapon System, connected the Austin-class amphibious carrier dock USS Ponce successful the 2010s, and past it installed a 150kW Solid State Laser Technology Maturation demonstrator, aliases SSL-TM, connected the San Antonio-class amphibious carrier dock USS Portland successful 2019, utilizing it to successfully destroy a drone target successful May 2020 earlier it was uninstalled successful 2023.

Additionally, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble is equipped pinch Lockheed Martin's High Energy Laser pinch Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, aliases HELIOS. Lockheed Martin said earlier this twelvemonth that HELIOS eliminated 4 drones during a Navy-operated objection past year. Some different destroyers are equipped pinch the lower-powered Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy, aliases ODIN, which is utilized chiefly to disrupt the optical sensors connected drones and different threats.

Other services person explored the usage of lasers arsenic well. Last week, the US Army saw a laser weapons win, utilizing the Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser to destruct 3 supplier cartel-linked drones astatine the confederate US border.