US Navy Laser Shoots Down Four Drones at Sea

The US Navy has quietly crossed a threshold that defense planners have been chasing for decades. A warship used a laser, not a missile, to destroy multiple airborne threats during a real sea based test, as reported by the Kyiv Post.

According to Lockheed Martin, the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Preble successfully shot down four drones using its High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system, better known as HELIOS.

The engagement happened during a counter drone demonstration at sea in 2024 and was later confirmed during a Lockheed Martin earnings call, as first reported by The War Zone.

Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet described the moment plainly but with clear significance. A shipboard laser knocked incoming drones out of the sky, proving that directed energy can handle threats that would normally require expensive missiles.

This was not a single lucky hit. The system reportedly neutralized four separate drones, marking the first confirmed multi target engagement by a US Navy laser weapon.

That matters because until now, ship mounted lasers have lived mostly in the land of tests, prototypes, and cautious language. This time, HELIOS did the job it was designed to do.

Why the Navy wants lasers instead of missiles

HELIOS, also known as Mk 5 Mod 0, is a 60 kilowatt class directed energy weapon. It is designed to destroy or disable drones and small surface craft, and it can also function as an optical dazzler that blinds or damages enemy sensors.

Lockheed Martin has said the system could eventually scale to 150 kilowatts, pushing it well beyond nuisance defense and closer to a true hard kill weapon.

The appeal is obvious. Missiles are powerful but expensive and finite. A single RIM 116 Rolling Airframe Missile costs roughly one million dollars. A laser shot costs little more than fuel and maintenance, assuming the ship can generate and manage the power.

Recent combat operations have made the problem painfully clear. Drone swarms, combined with cruise and ballistic missiles, can overwhelm traditional air defenses. Even well equipped warships can burn through their missile inventory faster than commanders would like.

Lasers flip that equation. As long as the ship has power and cooling, the magazine is effectively unlimited. That makes lasers an ideal first layer of defense against drones, preserving missiles for higher priority threats.

Navy leadership has already signaled this shift. Senior officers have said lasers should become the go to option for close range drone defense, not a backup or novelty system.

The limits and unanswered questions

For all the excitement, HELIOS is not magic.

Lasers can engage only one target at a time. Their effectiveness drops with distance, and environmental conditions matter. Fog, smoke, dust, and sea spray can all reduce performance. Shipboard systems also face harsh realities like saltwater corrosion, constant vibration, and demanding cooling requirements.

There are still unanswered questions about the USS Preble test. How quickly could HELIOS switch between targets. How long did it take to neutralize each drone. At what ranges were the engagements conducted.

Pentagon testing officials had previously confirmed that HELIOS downed at least one drone in 2024, according to a January 2025 report from the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. This latest disclosure is the first time multiple kills have been publicly confirmed.

The US Navy is not alone in this race. In early 2025, Ukraine’s then commander of Unmanned Systems Forces, Vadym Sukharevsky, said the country had developed its own laser weapon, known as Tryzub or Trident. He claimed it was capable of engaging aerial targets at altitudes above two kilometers, though he offered no technical details.

If accurate, Ukraine would be among a small group of nations with operational military laser systems, underscoring how quickly this technology is moving from theory to battlefield reality.

DroneXL’s Take

This is the moment lasers stop being a promise and start being policy. The USS Preble did not just prove that HELIOS works. It showed that lasers are ready to take pressure off missile based defenses in a world where drones are cheap, numerous, and relentless.

The technology still has limits, but the direction is clear. Future warships will fight light threats with light speed, and missiles will no longer be the first answer every time a drone appears on radar.

Photo credit: The War Zone, DVIDS.