The Navy’s push for shipboard laser weapons just got a new entrant

The U.S. Navy has awarded a $3.8 million contract to Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and defense contractor EO Solutions to develop a high-energy laser weapon for maritime operations. The contract, issued in June through the Naval Surface Technology & Innovation Consortium, is known as the Counter-Group 3 Marinized MOSA Laser for Navy (Gr3MMLN).

The contract emerged from a 2024 Navy solicitation for a prototype counter-drone laser weapon called the Adaptable Transportable Laser Weapon System (ATLAS). The ATLAS solicitation called for a containerized laser weapon with an output between 30 and 100 kilowatts that could operate on a ship's flight deck in a harsh environment for an extended period without degradation.

The $3.8 million contract is likely just to support experimentation and testing of an existing system. The funding for the contract came from a $5 million congressional addition to the Navy's fiscal year 2026 budget for an "enduring high energy laser." This contract marks HII's first known contract for a naval laser weapon, following its work with the Army on the Enduring High Energy Laser (E-HEL) effort.

The Navy has been making significant investments in laser weapons, with the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act allocating $5 million for a containerized version of the HELIOS system and an additional $2.5 million for a separate containerized maritime laser weapon system. HII's Gr3MMLN initiative appears to be a natural extension of its core shipbuilding business, focusing on the marinization and integration of an existing capability rather than a directed energy system built in-house.