.jpg)
By James R. Holmes
Lasers won’t solve all the problems facing naval weaponeers, but they’ll help address quite a few of them.
So the Naval Diplomat went on National Public Radio out in Los Angeles yesterday — via phone, alas, not onsite — to discuss the “laser gun” mounted aboard USNS Ponce, a U.S. Navy amphibious transport-cum-afloat forward staging base (AFSB). Occasioning NPR’s interest: this week the navy leadership has certified the old amphib’s 30 kW laser weapon system (LaWS) for combat use. Even while it undergoes testing, LaWS will provide some defense against lower-end threats from the likes of Iran and ISIS.
Why the hurry? Well, the AFSB concept is a nifty one. It envisions positioning a mothership in or near embattled zones as a floating airbase and hub for special forces, and to experiment with off-the-wall joint-service tactics, techniques, and procedures. From there it can radiate military power inland or along the coastal periphery. In navy parlance, Ponce is an “interim” AFSB, a gapfiller until purpose-built vessels known as mobile landing platforms (MLP) – modified commercial tankers — are ready to take her place.
Trouble is, a more or less stationary asset like an AFSB or MLP makes a nice target for adversaries intent on foiling American operations in their environs. Ponce is not a high-value U.S. Navy unit like an aircraft carrier, entitled to an entourage of destroyers and cruisers to shield her from attack. She’s an elderly, lumbering steamship that loiters within reach of shore-based missiles, aircraft, and drones, not to mention speedboats and other small surface craft. And she’s forward-deployed to the Persian Gulf region, whose denizens operate access-denial platforms in large numbers.
Hence the need for defensive firepower. An individual speedboat, or drone, or warplane is largely a nuisance. Swarms of such nuisances converging on the same place at the same time add up to a deadly menace — even to warships far more capable than an amphib.Ponce‘s laser, reports the Office of Naval Research, has proved effective against such threats as small boats and unmanned aircraft. Hence the decision to fast-track the LaWS. The weapon’s out there; why not use it in times of extreme peril? It can’t hurt.
Read the full story at The Diplomat