The Navy’s New Weapon System Is A Laser Pointer On Steroids

The U.S. Navy Research team published a video on Wednesday showing off the capabilities of its new "Laser Weapon System" or LaWS, and it's terrifying. It shoots a 30 kilowatt blast within 2 nanometers of its target according to Defense One.

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Simply put, it's an oversized laser pointer on steroids.

The video starts with a time lapse of the weapon aboard a Navy ship while a boat appears over the horizon. It quickly cuts to an operator housed somewhere within the vessel. He's standing in front of several screens holding what looks like a glorified X-Box controller. A blast is fired but there's no bang, no smoke, no projectile, and no tracer, all you see is an explosion.

The video switches to a camera aboard the approaching boat for a close-up of the target. It's a small stack of shells next to a cut-out of a human. The stack is precisely destroyed without damaging the wooden dummy.

Maybe I've seen too many comic book movies, but this is like X-Men's Cyclops with an invisible laser beam.

Defense One reported that this is the Navy's answer to drone attacks. Drones are becoming cheaper and more accessible, we've had them for years, but now American adversaries have begun to roll out their own versions. The LaWS will hopefully help the Navy keep drones at bay.

According to the Office of Naval Research, this isn't the final version of the weapon. A more powerful 150-kilowatt version is scheduled for testing in 2016.

Check out the video: