AN/SEQ-3 laser weapon system (LaWS)

The AN/SEQ-3 laser weapon system (LaWS) is a U.S. Navy program to develop a directed energy weapon for maritime operations. The Navy has a long-term objective of deploying high-energy lasers across its surface fleet in support of existing hard-kill weapons. The service particularly values the low cost-per-shot capability of lasers to defeat a variety of inexpensive threats such as small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and fast inshore attack craft.

Initial plans called for...