According to information published by Lockheed Martin on August 18, 2022, the firm delivered to the U.S. Navy a 60+ kW-class high-energy laser with integrated optical-dazzler and surveillance (HELIOS), the first tactical laser weapon system to be integrated into existing ships and provide directed energy capability to the fleet.
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Artist rendering of the laser weapon system Helios on US Navy's warship (Picture source: Lockheed Martin)
Integrated and scalable by design, the multi-mission HELIOS system will provide tactically relevant laser weapon system warfighting capability as a key element of a layered defense architecture.
Helios is a 60-kilowatt laser system, meaning it has twice the power of the AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System, or LaWS installed on the USS Ponce in 2014.
HELIOS is billed as a weapon that can burn small speed boats of the type Iran deploys in armed swarms, and can torch unmanned aerial vehicles out of the sky. HELIOS has a long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability.
Many weapons already deployed on U.S. Navy warships, including the Phalanx close-in weapon system (CIWS) and the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), have a similar capability against small boats and drones as HELIOS, while HELIOS is also capable of taking on larger, faster aircraft and missiles.
Where a laser weapon like HELIOS shines, literally, is its ability to fire a theoretically unlimited number of shots using the destroyer’s onboard electrical generation systems.
Phalanx, on the other hand, is limited to 20 to 30 seconds of continuous firing, while RAM is limited to 21 missiles aboard the Mk. 49 Guided Missile Launching System.
