The U.S. Navy’s High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system faced its first airborne target during a test in 2024, a first-time for the HELIOS program that will help the U.S. Navy inform other programs under the Directed Energy and Electric Weapon System effort.
Scarce details were published in the 2024 annual DOT&E report. According to the report, the Center for Countermeasures (CCM) supported the U.S. Navy’s test effort by collecting imagery in support of validation and verification of the HELIOS system.
“CCM supported the Navy’s demonstration on USS Preble (DDG 88) to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target. CCM collected imagery of the engagements to support the evaluation of system performance.”
DOT&E FY2024 Annual Report
U.S. Navy FY2025 budget documents had a test scheduled for HELIOS against an anti-ship cruise missile. It is unclear if the test mentioned by DOT&E is related to that planned test, but the U.S. Navy had planned for post-test analysis of an anti-ship cruise missile engagement in FY2024.
The HELIOS weapon test is part of a broader U.S. Navy family of laser weapons being developed by three different divisions in an aim to mature the technology related to maritime applications of laser weapon systems while improving power efficiency and beam quality.
The U.S. Navy’s laser weapons programs fall into two broad families. One is the Navy Laser Family of Systems (NLFoS). The U.S. Navy’s Surface Warfare Division (N96) manages development of Surface Navy Laser Weapon System Increment One (HELIOS) and the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN). The other is the U.S. Navy’s Innovation, Technology Missions, and Test and Evaluation Division (N94) family, which included development of the Solid State Laser – Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) and Ruggedized High Energy Laser (RHEL).
Outside of the U.S. Navy, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is managing HELSI, the force-wide High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative that aims to scale up laser power while improving efficiency and beam quality downrange.
The U.S. Navy has completed work on SSL-TM and did not request funding for SSL-TM in FY2025. Final disposition of the installed prototype on USS Portland (LPD 27) was planned for Q4 2024. Technology developed under SSL-TM was transferred to the U.S. Navy’s HELCAP program.
According to the U.S. Navy’s Office of Legislative Affairs, the U.S. Navy’s work on platforms developed by N96 and N94, alongside force-wide efforts advanced by the HELSI effort, will help inform decisions on the U.S. Navy’s High Energy Laser Counter Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Project (HELCAP). HELCAP seeks to deliver a 300+ kilowatt laser platform to the U.S. Navy, selected from one of the scaled laser systems developed under HELSI.
“[HELCAP] will expedite the development, experimentation, integration and demonstration of critical technologies to defeat crossing Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles (ASCM) by addressing remaining technical challenges. HELCAP will assess, develop, experiment, and demonstrate the various laser weapon system technologies and methods of implementation required to defeat ASCMs in a crossing engagement.”
U.S. Navy Budget Documents
The HELCAP effort, in turn, will inform decisions for the U.S. Navy’s Laser Weapon Testbed (LWT). LWT is the culmination of HELCAP, incorporating technologies developed under the SSL-TM program. According to the U.S. Navy, primary demonstration activities will be completed in FY2025 at White Sands Missile Range, with no follow-on activities planned.
HELCAP’s termination will not be followed by integration onto surface combatants at the time of writing. For HELIOS, the U.S. Navy has installed Aegis software capable of operating the laser system on DDG 81, 89, 122, 124 and 127, all of which could receive a HELIOS weapon system if the U.S. Navy pursues such an option. In the meantime, HELIOS testing will continue in 2025 onboard USS Preble.
“[The U.S. Navy will] continue to provide programmatic and engineering support to Integrated Product Teams (ITPs) and Working Groups (WGs), continue to provide shipboard technical support by monitoring system throughout operation as the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), continue to provide shipboard technical assistance and sustainment support, and support conduct of minimal underway testing and provide engineering support, utilizing ship test events and windows of opportunity to continue to inform tactical employment.”
U.S. Navy FY2025 RDT&E Budget Documents
Moving forward, the future of the U.S. Navy’s directed energy laser systems center around ODIN, currently deployed on eight Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class DDG, HELIOS, currently deployed on one Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class DDG, and the lessons and technology derived from the Laser Weapon Testbed.
