The US Navy’s top admiral sees laser weapons as a strategic answer to the cost challenge of combating cheap drones.
The Navy has been looking to laser and directed-energy weapons as a potentially cheaper means of neutralizing uncrewed systems, preserving limited and much more expensive interceptor missiles for higher-end threats. Laser weaponry, however, has been tricky to develop, as its effectiveness in combat depends heavily on power, cooling, and other shipboard systems.
In a Wednesday op-ed for The Washington Post, Adm. Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, identified the cost imbalance of using multimillion-dollar interceptors to take…
