US Navy Laser Weapon System

The Afloat Forward Staging Base (Interim) USS Ponce (ASB(I) 15) conducts an operational demonstration of the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored Laser Weapon System (LaWS) while deployed to the Arabian Gulf.

The LaWS consists of a 30-kilowatt solid-state infrared laser, a Phalanx CIWS (close-in weapon system) radar detection and tracking system, and a special computer terminal that controls the LaWS. Somewhat amusingly, the main interface with LaWS is a controller that looks a lot like an Xbox gamepad — but more ruggedized and military-looking.

Lasers have to be extremely focused, and thus very accurately targeted. You can’t blow up a house with a laser — but you could snipe a soldier in the head from miles away without touching anything else.

I hope they pen test and vulnerability scan their systems continuously.

Read more here.