When it comes to the future of weaponry, some people may ask where the the human race is heading.  Recently, the US Navy has been testing out a new type of technology that sounds like it comes straight out of a video game.

There is not all too much laser technology that is being militarized in this day and age, however the science fiction future of warfare seems to be drawing nearer.  One of the most polished installations of the technology is the aptly named Laser Weapons System (LaWS) and it is currently aboard the USS Ponce.

In order to properly grasp the full potential of this weaponry, it is important to understand just how it works.  The word laser is actually an acronym that stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, and the way that they function is relatively simple. The laser excites the electrons in a medium such as glass, crystal or gas and when they become excited, the electrons jump to a higher energy level.  Upon moving back down to their initial, ground state, the electrons emit photons, or particles of light.  Those photons are then directed into a narrow beam to be aimed at a specific target.

On the small scale, lasers are used in all different pieces of technology such as laser pointers, laser printers and laser engravers, however on a large scale they can become far more dangerous. This concept can actually be seen in some of the aforementioned small scale applications.  For example, if someone shines a laser into someone’s eye, it can burn the person’s eye quite severely.  When applied to the military, that is the intention.  The lasers are to be fired at targets that will explode or be disabled when superheated, and the lasers are designed to rapidly super heat targets like fuel tanks and missiles.

There are a number of benefits to the laser technology in comparison to the standard methods of weaponry in use currently.  Most standard issue kinetic (or physical) weaponry costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for each time they are fired, while each time the LaWS is fired it costs a mere 59 cents.  This balances out the research costs, with the money spent on research being about $40 million dollars.

As of right now, the LaWS is a 30 kilowatt laser which is more than capable of eliminating missiles or vehicles, however the Navy is developing a 150 kilowatt laser that will be far more powerful than what is currently in use.

According to Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, "It’s so vitally important that we continue this path of expectation management and we target for something that is achievable within the bounds of the state of technology as we see it today."

Pawlikowski explained how key it is for the development not to take as long as previous programs did because of the cost of current weaponry, but the Navy is well on its way to refining the laser technology.