General Atomics, Leidos Dynetics and 5 other companies will develop laser weapons up to 300 kW for the US Navy

The US Navy wants laser weapons for surface ships. To do this, the service contacted

to seven companies.

What is known

The US Navy is ready to spend $75 million on developmentprototype laser weapon. The companies that will compete for the contract are Leidos Dynetics, II-VI Aerospace & Defense, General Atomics, Nutronics, NUBURU, LibertyWorks (owned by Rolls-Royce North American Technologies Inc.) and Aculight (owned by Lockheed Martin).

Laser weapons must be able to destroyunmanned aerial vehicles of various types, reconnaissance systems, rockets and missiles. The output power should be 100-300 kW. Another requirement is the modular design of the laser system.

In conclusion, we would like to add that Lockheed Martin is still inlast year introduced ship-based laser weapons. It's called High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) and was installed on the destroyer USS Preble. However, the power is only 60 kW.

The company also has a 300-kW High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI) laser in its product range. Last year it was handed over to the US Department of Defense.