The US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble successfully destroyed four drones using its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system during a counter-UAS (uncrewed aerial system) demonstration at sea last year, Lockheed Martin confirmed.
The details were first reported by The War Zone, citing remarks by Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet during a recent earnings call, as well as Pentagon testing documents.
“Speaking of amazing technology, we successfully used a shipboard laser system, Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS, to knock an incoming UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] right out of the sky,” Taiclet said, adding that the system neutralized four drone threats and demonstrated how lasers could preserve traditional air-defense missiles for higher-priority targets.
HELIOS – also designated Mk 5 Mod 0 – is a 60-kilowatt-class directed energy weapon designed to destroy or disable drones and small boats. It also functions as an optical “dazzler,” capable of blinding or damaging enemy sensors.
Lockheed Martin has previously said the system could eventually be scaled up to 150 kilowatts.
USS Preble has carried HELIOS since 2022 and remains the only Navy ship equipped with the system. Other destroyers have received lower-powered ODIN laser dazzlers, while experimental high-energy lasers have been tested on additional vessels.
Pentagon testing officials previously disclosed that Preble downed at least one drone with HELIOS in 2024, according to a January 2025 report from the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation.
The latest demonstration marks the first confirmed multi-target engagement.
The test comes as the Navy pushes to make directed-energy weapons a primary defense against close-range threats, the report reads.
Earlier, the service’s top officer said lasers should become the “go-to” option for warship crews facing drones and similar attacks.
Recent operations in and around the Red Sea have highlighted how drone swarms, combined with cruise and ballistic missiles, can strain traditional air defenses. Lasers offer a key advantage: a virtually unlimited “magazine,” provided ships have sufficient power and cooling.
They also promise major cost savings. For comparison, a single RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile used on US Navy ships costs roughly $1 million.
Still, questions remain about the HELIOS test, including how quickly the system could shift between targets and how long each drone took to neutralize. Lasers can engage only one target at a time, lose power over distance, and are affected by weather, smoke, and dust.
Shipboard systems must also contend with saltwater exposure, rough seas, and demanding cooling requirements.
Notably, in a February 2025 interview, Vadym Sukharevsky, then commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, was asked about progress in developing laser weapons for use against Russia.
He referenced earlier media reports from late 2024, including Interfax-Ukraine and UNITED24, which quoted him as saying Ukraine had developed the Tryzub (“Trident”) laser system capable of shooting down aircraft at altitudes above two kilometers.
Asked for an update, Sukharevsky said his command was conducting multiple R&D projects focused on countering enemy drones, particularly Shahed kamikaze UAVs. Repeating his earlier remarks, he said Ukraine’s laser technology is already capable of hitting targets at certain altitudes, though he offered no additional technical details.
In December 2024, Sukharevsky also said Ukraine was likely the fifth country to field an operational military laser system. While he did not disclose its origin, the Tryzub name – drawn from Ukraine’s national trident symbol – suggests it was developed domestically.