From drone killings to fleet doctrine: US Navy’s laser carrier experiment

The U.S. Navy’s first confirmed shipboard laser shootdown from an aircraft carrier signals more than a technical milestone—it reflects a broader doctrinal shift toward modular, energy-based warfare at sea. 

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush successfully employed a 20-kilowatt Palletised High Energy Laser (P-HEL) system to destroy multiple drones during a live-fire test in October 2025, an analysis by Defense News notes, marking the first known instance of a carrier deck being used as a platform for operational directed-energy engagement.

The system, based on the LOCUST Laser Weapon System developed by defence contractor AV and supplied through the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, was tested in the Atlantic Ocean under conditions designed to simulate emerging unmanned aerial threats. According to AV officials cited in the report, the system “tracked, engaged, and neutralised multiple target drones, including drone swarms,” a statement that underscores the Navy’s growing focus on countering low-cost, massed aerial threats.

The scale of the test—reportedly involving 17 drones, as confirmed by AV vice president John Garrity—matters less for its tactical outcome than for what it represents strategically. The U.S. military has long experimented with shipborne lasers, but previous deployments on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, such as the HELIOS and ODIN systems, have been constrained by power limitations and integration complexity.

The carrier, by contrast, offers an unusually favourable environment: nuclear-powered energy generation, expansive deck space, and a central position within carrier strike group defense architecture.

This helps explain why laser advocates within the Navy have long viewed aircraft carriers as ideal platforms. As early as 2000, Navy Capt. William McCarthy argued that “given the sheer size and the margin of power available, the [Carrier Vessel Nuclear] is the best-suited warship to integrate the directed energy technologies.” The recent test appears to validate that assumption at least at a technical level, even if operational viability remains contested.

The broader strategic logic is clear. Carrier strike groups are increasingly exposed to asymmetric threats, particularly from inexpensive drones and unmanned surface vehicles. In recent years, attacks in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthi forces have forced the U.S. Navy to deploy systems such as Coyote and Roadrunner interceptors to protect high-value assets.

Directed-energy weapons promise a fundamentally different cost equation: near-unlimited “magazine depth” and extremely low cost per shot compared to kinetic interceptors.

However, the same characteristics that make lasers attractive also complicate their battlefield role. Atmospheric distortion caused by humidity, salt aerosols, and temperature gradients can degrade beam effectiveness, particularly over longer distances at sea. More critically, laser systems require sustained dwell time on a target to achieve destruction, making them vulnerable to saturation tactics in which incoming drones or missiles overwhelm defensive engagement cycles.

These limitations are not merely technical—they are doctrinal, defense News points out. A carrier flight deck is already one of the most operationally complex environments in modern warfare, balancing continuous aircraft launch and recovery cycles with sensor coordination and airspace management.

Introducing a high-energy, line-of-sight weapon into that space adds a new layer of risk, particularly given that laser beams are invisible and require strict deconfliction protocols to prevent accidental exposure to friendly assets.

Despite these challenges, the Navy’s experimentation aligns with a broader institutional shift toward modularity. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle has explicitly advocated for containerized combat systems, stating: “Missiles and [unmanned surface vehicles] are not the only thing that can fit inside of these, from towed-array-systems, to drone swarms, to electronic attack systems, to high-powered lasers. I want to containerize everything.”

Still, the USS George H.W. Bush test should not be interpreted as validation of combat readiness. Instead, it is better understood as an early-stage proof of concept for a system that remains constrained by physics, platform dynamics, and the realities of naval warfare at scale. 

By Sabina Mammadli