US Navy chief outlines vision for laser weapons on every ship

Admiral Daryl Caudle, the 34th Chief of Naval Operations, laid out the service's plan to field laser weapons across the fleet. The Navy will pursue two tracks: containerized systems on existing ships and new designs built for megawatt-class directed energy.

• Caudle wants to move from hundreds of kilowatts to megawatt-class power
• Containerized lasers will speed deployment on existing ships
• Future ships will get extra power generation, storage and cooling margins
• Lasers will complement kinetic weapons and ease limited magazine depth