In April 2013 the US Navy announced that it was deploying a laser weapon prototype in the Persian Gulf. For the first time the ships are going to be equipped with a laser attack weapon able to disable patrol boats and blind or destroy surveillance drones as the tests have shown. The Navy calls its new weapon LAWS (which stands for the Laser Weapon System). The prototype shipboard laser is to be deployed on board of the USS Ponce, a converted amphibious transport and docking ship in the Persian Gulf, which serves as a floating base for military operations and humanitarian assistance in the waters of the Middle East and southwestern Asia. The laser will be operational next year. Many of the details about how the laser works remain secret, such as how far its beam can travel, how powerful it is or how much power is used to generate it. What is known is that the laser is designed to be a «plug and play» system that integrates into a ship’s existing targeting technologies and power grids. Those factors make it a surprisingly cheap weapon. The U.S. Navy also has other systems under development that are intended to shoot down enemy drones homing in on surface vessels. Similarly, the U.S. Army announced in 2011 that it was doing research on Laser-Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC), which can fire a laser-guided, 50 billion watt «lightning bolt» at a target.

US Announces “Significant Changes” for Military Policy | Global Research