Skip to content
Defdex

Directed energy · Sea

HELIOS

Lockheed Martin shipboard high-energy laser with dazzler and surveillance modes.

by Lockheed Martin

Limited fieldingDirected energySeaFirst delivery2022
HELIOS laser firing from USS Preble during a U.S. Navy test, shown in a monochrome test image.

Photo: U.S. Department of Defense / Center for Countermeasures · Public domain (PD-USGov) · Embedded photograph extracted from the FY2024 DOT&E Annual Report, printed page 385 (PDF page 399), and resized as WebP. The report states that the Center for Countermeasures collected imagery of the HELIOS engagements; Commons identifies this image as a federal government work. No added crop or retouching.

High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance: a 60 kW-class laser that Lockheed Martin built for the U.S. Navy and integrated with the Aegis combat system. It was first installed on the destroyer USS Preble.

Timeline1

  1. First deliveryReported

    Phased delivery to USS Preble begins

    After range testing at Wallops Island, the first HELIOS began phased delivery for installation on USS Preble.

    SourcesSeapower

Solid entries are confirmed, outlined reported, dashed estimated or still to come; dotted italic entries are speculative. Dates show only the precision the sources give.

Sources1

  1. 1.

    Seapower · Mar 31, 2022 · Supports: System, System milestone

    “It will be the first laser weapon system to be integrated with a ship’s Aegis Combat System and power and cooling systems”

Each fact on this page is attached to the sources that support it. Archived copies are linked when we keep one.