Ray gunProtecting U.S. ships from Iranian speed-boat swarm attacks
In the event of a U.S. military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Iranians will adopt what the weaker side in a conflict typically does: engage in an asymmetric warfare; in the case of a naval clash, the Iranians are likely to use swarms of hundreds of small speed boats, equipped with anti-ship missiles and other weapons, to attack the much larger U.S. ships in the narrow confines of the Gulf; the U.S. Navy wants to use ray guns to deal with this threat
The U.S. Navy is much larger and much more powerful than Iran’s navy, so in the event of a U.S. military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Iranians will adopt what the weaker side in a conflict typically does: engage in an asymmetric warfare. In the case of a naval clash, the Iranians are likely to use swarms of hundreds of small speed boats, equipped with anti-ship missiles and other weapons, to attack the much larger U.S. ships in the narrow confines of the Gulf.
To help U.S. sailors defeat this small boat threat and aerial targets without using bullets, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) wants to develop a solid-state laser weapon prototype that will demonstrate multi-mission capabilities aboard a Navy ship, officials announced yesterday (8 May).
“We believe it’s time to move forward with solid-state lasers and shift the focus from limited demonstrations to weapon prototype development and related technology advancement,” said Peter Morrison, program officer of the Solid-State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) program.
ONR will host an industry day on 16 May to provide the research and development community with information about the program. A Broad Agency Announcement is expected to be released thereafter to solicit proposals and bids.
ONR notes that the Navy’s long history of advancing directed-energy technology has yielded kilowatt-scale lasers capable of being employed as weapons. Among the programs, the Maritime Laser Demonstration developed a proof-of-concept technology that was tested at sea aboard a decommissioned Navy ship.
The demonstrator was able to disable a small boat target. Another program, the Laser Weapon System, demonstrated a similar ability to shoot down four small unmanned test aircraft.
The SSL-TM program builds on ONR’s directed-energy developments and knowledge gained from other laser research initiatives, including the MK 38 Tactical Laser Demonstration tested at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. All of these efforts could help the Department of the Navy become the first of the armed forces to deploy high-energy laser weapons.
