05-02-2025
Photo of US Navy firing off laser weapon causes a stir
Published February 5th, 2025 - 11:13 GMT
ALBAWABA - A picture showing the newly developed US Navy with a laser weapon has caused a buzz on social media with people crazy to discover more about the "drone destroyer".
The photo of the US Navy laser weapon, identified as HELIOS, was posted first via the US Center for Countermeasures' annual report and quickly became widely circulating online.
HELIOS was developed for the US by Lockheed Martin and it uses a 60 kW high-energy laser that can destroy objects in a matter of seconds.
In the footage, the warfighting laser technology was seen coming out of the USS Preble destroyer in the middle of the ocean.
The US Navy released a clip of the USS Preble firing a HELIOS laser weapon.
The High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-Dazzler and Surveillance will be used primarily to counter — Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 3, 2025
The picture was shared "to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target," the report revealed.
The United States in fact was not the only country to test a laser weapon, last year, the UK tested a locally developed high-powered laser weapon, known as DragonFire, and attacked an aerial object.
Many comments emerged on social media where a few people said the laser weapon looked like coming out of a "Star Wars movie". A person said: "Who are they preparing to fight Godzilla?"
Another wrote: "i'd be interested in knowing how it can handle 100 drones all at once."
© 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba (
