HELIOS

Report to Congress on Defense Department Directed Energy Weapons

The following is the Sept. 13, 2022 Congressional Research Service report, Department of Defense Directed Energy Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress.

From the report

Directed energy (DE) weapons use concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to combat enemy forces. Although the United States has been researching directed energy since the 1960s, some experts have observed that the Department of Defense (DOD) has invested billions of dollars in DE programs that failed...

https://news.usni.org/2022/09/14/report-to-congress-on-defense-department-directed-energy-weapons

Navy Installing More Directed Energy Weapons on DDGs, Conducting Land-Based Laser Testing This Year

Artist’s concept of a HELIOS laser system aboard a U.S. destroyer. Lockheed Martin Image

RIVERDALE, Md. – The Navy continues to learn more about a pair of directed energy weapons, as the service installs the fourth and fifth dazzler system this year and begins land-based testing of a high-energy laser weapon, the program executive officer for integrated warfare systems told USNI News.

The Navy has been in parallel working on an Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) program, a nonlethal weapon...

https://news.usni.org/2021/04/07/navy-installing-more-directed-energy-weapons-on-ddgs-conducting-land-based-laser-testing-this-year

Littoral Combat Ship Will Field Laser Weapon as Part of Lockheed Martin, Navy Test

Littoral combat ship Little Rock (LCS 9) is underway during a high-speed run in Lake Michigan during acceptance trials. Lockheed Martin Photo

The Navy will put a laser weapon on a Littoral Combat Ship for the first time this year, amid efforts to boost the LCS’s lethality and to develop and field a family of laser systems.

USS Little Rock (LCS-9) will receive a laser weapon during its upcoming deployment, Commander of Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm. Richard Brown told reporters. The ship will...

https://news.usni.org/2020/01/13/littoral-combat-ship-will-field-laser-weapon-as-part-of-lockheed-martin-navy-test

Marines Took Out Iranian Drone for the Cost of a Tank of Gas

A MADIS anti-drone system is perched on the bow of USS Boxer (LHD-4) during a Strait of Hormuz transit on July 18, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo

Instead of a using an almost-million-dollar Navy missile, Marines splashed a hostile Iranian drone on Thursday for about the cost of a couple of gallons of gas.

During a transit through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf on Thursday, Marines – operating a new electronic warfare system on the deck of USS Boxer (LHD-4) – downed a hostile unmanned...

https://news.usni.org/2019/07/19/marines-took-out-iranian-drone-for-the-cost-of-a-tank-of-gas

Navy to Field High-Energy Laser Weapon, Laser Dazzler on Ships This Year as Development Continues

The Office of Naval Research highlights the results of some laser weapon tests, showing the damage that its in-development Solid State Laser- Technology Maturation system did to various unmanned systems, metals and more. USNI News photo.

The Navy will field versions of both its highest-power laser weapon and its low-end non-lethal laser dazzler later this year, gaining operational experience with directed energy weapons that will continue to focus engineers’ efforts building out the Navy Laser...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/30/navy-to-field-high-energy-laser-weapon-laser-dazzler-on-ships-this-year-as-development-continues

Lockheed Martin: Sixth-Generation Fighter Could Have Laser Weapon

Artist’s concept of a HELIOS laser system aboard a U.S. destroyer. Lockheed Martin Image

ARLINGTON, Va. – Lasers to counter unmanned aerial vehicles and sensors to scan the horizon, scrambling an adversary’s electronic equipment while relaying information to other systems – all packaged in a stealthy airframe – could be possible for a sixth-generation fighter, according to experts at Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin officials provided the media a view of electronic warfare in the near future...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/01/lockheed-martin-sixth-generation-fighter-could-have-laser-weapon

Navy’s $3.2B Unfunded List Includes Asks for Attack Boat Repair Money, ‘Ambulance’ Vessel

The Austal USA EPF medical concept would accommodate a MV-22 Osprey. AUSTAL USA Image

Finding $653 million for a trio of submarines that the Navy is trying to repair in private yards and $49 million to convert a Military Sealift Command ship into an ‘ambulance’ for naval forces top the Navy’s unfunded priorities list that was delivered to Congress on Friday.

The $3.2 billion in spending items the service needs but could not include in the Defense Department’s formal budget request splits the...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/25/navys-3-2b-unfunded-list-includes-asks-attack-boat-repair-money-ambulance-vessel

Aegis Combat System Baseline 10 Set to IOC in 2023

An artist’s conception of a Raytheon’s SPY-6 radar on a Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer. Raytheon Image

ARLINGTON, Va.— Lockheed Martin’s latest Aegis combat weapon system upgrade – Baseline 10 – will not only be built for the Navy’s upcoming fleet of Flight III Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyers but also provide the service with backward compatibility for older ships.

The bulk of the Baseline 10 upgrade integrates the new AN/SPY-6(V) radar, Jim Sheridan, the head of Lockheed Martin’s...

https://news.usni.org/2019/01/15/40397

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