SpaceWar.com reports: “The U.S. Navy has developed a directed-energy weapon that can intercept unmanned drones and possibly cruise missiles while enhancing naval operations in combat areas.

The weapons is the high-energy laser with integrated optical dazzler and surveillance, more popularly known as HELIOS, and the Navy successfully test-fired the system last year and has more tests planned in 2025.

The HELIOS system is a type of direct-energy weapon, which the Navy confirmed is a viable weapon for intercepting aerial targets that might endanger U.S. Navy ships and other targets.

U.S. Navy personnel aboard the destroyer USS Preble at an unknown time and location affirmed the HELIOS system works during demonstration intended to ‘verify and validate the functionality, performance and capability’ of the system ‘against an unmanned aerial vehicle target,’ the Department of Defense’s 498-page 2024 Operational Test & Evaluation report says on page 388.

The U.S. military’s Center for Countermeasures supported the test and collected images that support and validate the HELIOS as a viable countermeasure against low-cost drones and other weapons…”