The US Navy’s first destroyer to be equipped with a laser weapon—USS Preble (DDG-88)— successfully test-fired its high-energy laser weapon system against an incoming drone.
The test of the weapon, known as High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS), reportedly took place in fiscal year 2024, as revealed in the Pentagon’s annual Director, Operational Test, and Evaluation (DOTE) report.
According to the DOTE, the test was meant to “verify and validate the functionality, performance and capability” of HELIOS.
An image of the evaluation test was also attached, and it has now been widely shared on social media. However, the report did not provide more specific details, such as the exact date the HELIOS test took place or its location.
The USS Preble, equipped with the cutting-edge HELIOS laser weapon system, was forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, on October 12, 2024, and joined an elite group of destroyers of the US Seventh Fleet tasked with maintaining maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. The deployment was seen as evidence of the importance of directed energy weapons in general and laser weapons in particular.
At the time of its deployment in Japan, reports stated that the USS Preble would conduct tests of its High-Energy Laser with an Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, or HELIOS, system.
However, the US Navy has not disclosed whether a HELIOS test was indeed conducted in the Indo-Pacific theatre. Notably, the USS Preble is the only one of the 73 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in the US Navy equipped with a high-energy laser weapon.
The latest test is significant as it comes at a time when small aerial targets like kamikaze drones and loitering munitions have seen unprecedented proliferation globally. Moreover, they are now easily accessible to state as well as non-state actors, as seen recently in the Red Sea, where the US Navy warships were on drone-hunting duty.
As previously explained by EurAsian Times in a detailed article, Lasers are particularly useful against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) because their concentrated laser beams can rapidly heat a drone’s body. This can result in the drone’s structural failure, leading to the burning off of one of the wings on a fixed-wing drone.
Laser weapons are now occupying a substantial space in defense plans across the globe by providing an economical and effective substitute for missile interceptors that often cost millions of dollars and take substantial time to produce.
There is speculation that even China is working on equipping its destroyers with high-energy laser weapons. Last year, a photograph of the Type-071 Amphibious Assault Ship of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) equipped with laser weapons emerged on social media, suggesting that the system was undergoing testing.
It is believed that after the experimental testing ends, the weapon could be mounted on the Type 075 and Type 055 vessels, the workhorses of the formidable PLA Navy.
Like most military platforms, the development of laser-based weapon systems in China remains cloaked in secrecy. However, it has nonetheless created a sense of urgency in the US, with the Pentagon keen on fielding laser weapons across its services, including the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.
HELIOS: US Navy’s Upcoming Defense Against Drones
The weapon system, officially known as the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS), is a 60+ kW-class laser developed by Lockheed Martin. The contract for constructing the weapon was awarded to the manufacturer in 2018, and the US Navy secured its delivery in 2022.
At the time, Lockheed Martin contended that the multi-mission HELIOS system, integrated and expandable by design, would offer tactically relevant laser weapon system warfighting capability as a crucial component of layered defense architecture. The HELIOS can also reportedly be scaled to 120kW to 150 kW. The US Navy is expected to receive another HELIOS weapon in that category.
HELIOS, like any High-Energy Laser weapon, is a large, stationary energy-producing apparatus with a directed energy array mounted on top. HELIOS is situated atop Preble’s main forward pedestal, which was used by previous Arleigh Burke-class destroyer variants to house the Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS).
The system produces a lot of energy to excite photons, which are then focused on a particular target – likely a drone or a missile. This causes a concentrated area of that target to heat up until it combusts. The energy beam is invisible, and the operation is virtually silent. The sparks and flames that emerge from the target are the only visible indication of engagement.
Using laser guns significantly lowers the number of casualties because, unlike kinetic weapons, there is no momentum transfer, shock wave, or high-velocity fragments. Moreover, the high-energy laser beams’ instantaneous time of flight prevents the target from making the first strike.

It is especially effective when used with the Aegis Combat System. Jeanine Matthews, a Lockheed executive, told reporters in 2022: “What’s interesting about HELIOS is that it’s not simply a standalone system — [it has] the initial pieces of integration to Aegis, and the next steps would be to make it one of the selections in the weapon system component of Aegis so that you could use [it].”
In addition to shooting down targets, HELIOS can be used as a “dazzler” to confuse or blind optical seekers on approaching drones and missiles. The dazzler can restrict an adversary’s overall situational awareness by preventing their sensors from monitoring the ship. The optical sensors that HELIOS has on board can also be used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) purposes.
That said, high-energy laser weapons also have their shortcomings. For one, the components of a high-energy laser weapon are sensitive and are constantly being upgraded for military usage, and their range is restricted and affected by atmospheric conditions.
Nonetheless, as drones become central to modern combat and the threat of missile attacks grows, laser weapons are emerging as a crucial component of modern military strategy. And the United States appears to be fully on board.
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