The U.S. Navy Is Funding Lasers and Killing the Railgun
By Kyle Mizokami
Feb 13, 2018
The U.S. Navy is seeking nearly $300 million for research into a family of laser weapons for the fleet.
First pointed out by Aviation Week & Space Technology reporter Lara Seligman on Twitter, the so-called Navy Laser Family of Systems is meant to get laser weapons to sea in the near term, giving the U.S. Navy the ability to deal with what might be called “pesky†threats: unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned ships, and armed speed boats, also known as fast inshore attack craft (FIAC). Such threats cannot sink America’s large warships directly, but they can surveil, harass, and even damage a ship as large as a destroyer. The “family†also includes larger 150-kilowatt weapons that could be useful against missiles and aircraft.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a17764166/navy-four-laser-weapons/
