U.S. Navy Tests Laser Weapon on Aircraft Carrier, Neutralizing 17 Drones

U.S. Navy announced. The test involved multiple drones. Defense News reported that the laser tracked, engaged and neutralized multiple target drones, including drone swarms, from the carrier's deck.

Photos of a 20 kilowatt Palletized High Energy Laser (P-HEL) system were published to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service on April 20, 2026. U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO).

U.S. service members from low-cost weaponized drones overseas for years. U.S. Army possesses at least four LOCUST systems integrated onto M1301 Infantry Squad Vehicles and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles through the Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL) initiative.

Marine Corps awarded a contract to AV in November 2023 to deliver a LOCUST laser weapon for integration into a JLTV. AV predecessor company BlueHalo had been in discussions with the Navy since at least 2024 to test the LOCUST on aircraft carriers and potentially on submarines.

Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers host the 60 kW High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) systems. These destroyers also host lower-power Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) systems. The Navy had previously integrated the HELIOS and ODIN systems directly into Aegis Combat Systems across the Arleigh Burke fleet.

The LOCUST can recharge from an aircraft carrier’s nuclear reactors. Power requisition aboard Flight III destroyers should prove no significant obstacle to keeping the LOCUST system in a fight. Lockheed Martin is developing a containerized version of the HELIOS laser weapon, a company executive revealed in August 2025.

Navy leaders declared that 'the dream of a laser on every ship can become a real one' earlier in 2026. The Navy has fielded Coyote and Roadrunner interceptors to carrier strike groups deployed to the Middle East.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen conducted attacks on military and merchant vessels in the Red Sea. Air Force Center for Strategy and Technology in 2000 that 'given the sheer size and the margin of power available, the [Carrier Vessel Nuclear] is the best-suited warship to integrate the directed energy technologies' like laser weapons.

A laser shootdown incident occurred in El Paso, Texas, in February 2026, leading to airspace closure.