Bring out the lasers
The US Navy, on the last of the old Ingalls Shipyard built Spruance-class destroyers from the disco era, the USS Paul Foster, has a new toy. This disco ball is the solid state laser made by Northrop Grumman known as the Maritime Laser Demonstrator.
The weapon, which makes you feel all Death Star-like, performed excellently in tests. Danger Room has footage and more information but it looks like the old destroyer fired the 15-kilowatt weapon at a Ridgid-hull inflatable set up as a remote controled target ship a mile away. The important fact is that both the destroyer and the target were moving and at sea. Previous tests have been on land of a much larger system that was firing at a fixed target with known parameters etc.
This new technology will be important moving forward as a way of defeating smart anti ship missiles like the Sizzler, small boats etc
I say move the Paul Foster to the coast of Somalia as soon as possible!
