Northrop Grumman to Develop Laser Weapons Systems for Navy

The U.S. Navy selected Northrop Grumman Corp. for the initial phase of a research and development project involving solid-state, high-power laser weapon systems and components to be used for ship defense, the company announced Tuesday in a news release from its Redondo Beach campus.

It's "the first step in the development of a Prototype Laser Weapon System by the Office of Naval Research," according to a Northrop Grumman statement, which says the project will "pave the way for a future Navy program that will integrate laser weapon systems on existing and future ships."

Lasers provide the Navy a more affordable means of defending ships in harm's way, according to Northrop Grumman. Under the contract, the company will complete a conceptual design for a complete laser weapon system to be integrated onto a destroyer or other suitable surface ship, said Steve Hixson of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

In 2011, Northrop Grumman worked with ONR to demonstrate the first high- energy laser at sea.

"ONR's selection of Northrop Grumman for this next step will enable us to help the Navy mature the weapon system for use by sailors in the real world," Hixson said. "That means addressing engineering challenges such as reliability and ship integration, and showing we can do so affordably."

Northrop Grumman has decades of experience in developing, integrating and field-testing laser weapon systems, he said. In 2012, the company introduced Gamma, a military laser that made generational advances in packaging solid-state laser technology into much smaller, lighter, more reliable and more affordable units for operational use, according to Hixson.