Japan’s Laser Warning to China: The USS Preble Destroyer’s Game-Changing Message

[The Epoch Times, Medi 25, 2024](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Xia Yu) After the US Navy released its annual pilot plan, last Sunday (September 23), a US Navy destroyer equipped with the latest laser weapons was launched from Departing from San Diego and went to Yokosuka, Japan. The ship is also the only US destroyer with new drone strike capabilities.

The Navy’s latest pilot plan focuses on being ready to combat the CCP by 2027.

Nikkei Asia News reported on September 25 that a US Navy spokesman stated that the USS Preble is the only ship among the US Navy’s 73 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to have high-energy laser weapons for shooting down drones and missiles down.

Preble carries the High Energy Laser for Integrated Optical Deflection and Surveillance (HELIOS) developed by Lockheed Martin.

“Helios remains in the sea-testing phase and will continue to be tested as a forward-deployed unit,” a Navy spokesman said.

As early as August 1, the US Pacific Fleet announced that the USS Preble would be sent to Japan.

It is important to counter the CCP’s shipborne laser weapons

In recent years, the cost of anti-aircraft missiles has become a hot topic in the defense community. Gulf of Aden, leading to an imbalance in the use of missiles in Europe and the United States.

Experts say the US Navy’s current method of shooting down drones is unsustainable because it uses multimillion-dollar surface-to-air missiles to destroy cheap drones, a cost burden that is becoming increasingly heavy as the battle drags on. .

A laser weapon is a new type of weapon that emits a strong laser in a specific direction, causing damage to the enemy’s photoelectric equipment or the photoelectric detection system in the weapon system, thereby hitting the enemy’s weapon system. Laser weapons rely on laser beams produced by atomic energy level transitions to attack targets.

In 2022, the laser system will be installed on the guided missile destroyer USS Preble. Also in 2022, the US Navy successfully tested a high-energy laser system against cruise missile targets.

On September 18, US Chief of Naval Operations and Admiral Lisa Franchetti released the “2024 Pilot Plan”, which proposed for the first time that the US Navy’s strategic goal is to “probably compete with the US Navy by 2027 (Chinese Communist Party) is ready for war.”

Shipboard lasers, or directed energy weapons, are expected to play a key role in future US wars, particularly against large numbers of drones and anti-ship missiles.

An updated report in August by the US Congressional Research Service noted that lasers on ships are powered by the ship’s power supply and “can be fired repeatedly indefinitely.” and most of them are produced Cost of fuel to power the launch.

The report said this low-cost method of destroying drones and missiles is necessary when facing China, which has many drones and anti-ship missiles. The Navy’s “Pilot Plan 2024” notes that the Chinese Communist Party’s defense industrial base is in a “wartime state,” including the fact that the Chinese Communist Party’s navy currently commands the world’s largest shipbuilding capacity.

HELIOS greatly enhances the Preble’s strike capabilities

Laser weapons have “surgical” precision strike capabilities. The energy of the laser beam is highly concentrated, the penetration is strong, the damage effect is large, the divergence angle is very small, and the hitting accuracy is very high, it can hit the enemy’s weak parts effectively and only cause damage to the target itself or even a particular part of it.

The Congressional Research Service describes Helios as a 60-kilowatt class high-energy laser with the potential to grow to 150 kilowatts. The laser can penetrate drones, low-flying aircraft and, in some cases, incoming missiles. The research institute said early versions of the laser could produce a “glare” effect, or blind the sensors on the incoming object, causing it to veer off course.

The commissioning of HELIOS has greatly enhanced the USS Preble’s strike capability, allowing it to operate in more diverse combat forms on the battlefield.

Retired Rear Admiral Mike Studeman, former head of the Office of Naval Intelligence and currently a national security researcher at research institute Miter, told Nikkei Asia News that any military capable of exploiting and using such technology a huge advantage.

“It’s clear to everyone that you can’t just use very expensive missiles. You need to have something that can take out a lot of lethal weapons as efficiently and cheaply as possible,” he said.

The Preble will be sent to Yokosuka along with 12 other US warships, including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which is expected to arrive in Yokosuka in mid-November to transport the most advanced F-35C fighter jets.

Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei#