The Navy’s top officer lays out his vision for laser weapons on every ship
This article is republished with permission from Laser Wars , a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. U.S. Navy Admiral Daryl Caudle is the 34th Chief of Naval Operations and a longtime student of directed energy who’s currently on something of a media blitz in support of the service’s vision of a “ laser on every ship .” I originally submitted a list of…
In an effort to promote the U.S. Navy's vision of equipping every ship with laser weapons, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle is actively engaged in a media push. The navy aims to develop and deploy high-energy laser weapons over the next five years, employing a dual-track approach.
Firstly, the focus is on creating useful directed-energy capability for the current sailors, through containerized systems that can be rapidly integrated onto existing vessels. This approach facilitates experimentation, the building of tactical and technical expertise, and the enhancement of maintenance practices. Simultaneously, the navy must design future ships with directed energy in mind, considering electrical generation, energy storage, cooling, combat-system integration, and optical architecture.
Caudle emphasizes that the ultimate goal is to have reliable, maintainable weapons in the fleet, staffed by sailors who understand how to effectively utilize them. He compares the dedication to laser weapons to the notable efforts made by past leaders, such as Rickover with nuclear propulsion and Meyer with Aegis and MK 41 VLS.
The navy believes that laser weapons should not replace kinetic weapons but serve as an essential part of a layered defense. By shifting the defensive fight from a finite magazine to the ship's ability to generate and manage electrical power, the navy can preserve its most capable kinetic weapons for more demanding threats.
Caudle is cautious about choosing an engineering architecture for megawatt-class laser weapons, urging the industry to explore diverse technological avenues to foster open and fair competition. He is more interested in setting demanding operational requirements and ensuring industry delivers a scalable, reliable weapon for the sailors.
Regarding the power issue across the existing fleet, the navy aims to address it by distinguishing between the current fleet and the future fleet. Containerization and modularity can introduce directed-energy capability onto existing ships without major alterations, including modular power, energy storage, and thermal-management solutions.
For future combatants, the navy needs to treat electrical power as a war-fighting resource, ensuring sufficient generation, distribution, storage, and cooling margins to support high-demand mission systems.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
