The US Navy has deployed its first ever combat laser. 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System has been equipped on the USS Ponce amphibious transport ship since late August, Navy officials told Bloomberg.
The laser weapon has boosted the arsenal of the Fifth Fleet’s command vessel in the Persian Gulf. The laser is said to be effective against numerous small targets, such as Iran’s gunboats. The device is capable of focusing beams from “six solid-state commercial welding lasers into a single strong beam”, which can be used both as a blinding warning shot and as a weapon capable of setting fire to a drone or small boat.
The fact that the USS Ponce is stationed in the Persian Gulf “provides a unique platform” to deploy the laser “in an operationally relevant region,” Fifth Fleet commander Vice Admiral John Miller told Bloomberg in an email.
Source: Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-14/u-s-navy-deploys-its-first-laser-weapon-in-the-persian-gulf.html
This represents the first deployment of a directed energy weapon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFPl2O84xJU
See video: US Navy laser weapons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMfYUyrKRng
Note: The LaWS was deployed on the bow of the Ponce in late August 2014 to the Persian Gulf with the U.S. 5th Fleet.