The USN has installed a first-of-a-kind laser on a destroyer, in order to blind the sensors of hostile unmanned aircraft.
This marks a major development in plans arm the US surface fleet with with defensive speed-of-light weapons.
In late February, the navy announced that the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Dewey (DDG-105) had been fitted with an Optically Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) system during recent dry dock activity, in response to what the service described in a statement as an ‘urgent’ request from the head of the US Pacific Fleet.
‘It is proof positive that lasers, and other directed-energy weapons