An experimental laser weapon is seen aboard the USS George H.W. Bush in October 2025. The Navy has successfully developed several directed energy weapons (DEWs) for use against drones. (US Navy)

US Navy Trained First Sailors at New ‘Laser Lab’

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The US Navy has invested heavily in the “ODIN,” an anti-drone laser—and is beginning to train its sailors on how to use it.

Efforts to develop laser-based weapons are well underway with militaries around the world. Although the world is likely years, or perhaps even decades, away from having warships armed with anything like the death rays or phasers of science fiction, directed energy weapons (DEWs), including lasers, do show promise in countering drones and other aerial threats.

After several starts and stops, the US Navy is finally showing real commitment to lasers. It announced this week that the first group of sailors had completed the first course of a new training program underway at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD)’s Directed Energy Systems Integration Laboratory (DESIL).

The sea service designated the lab as the official “schoolhouse for the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN), seven of which sit on Navy ships.” The newly created course builds on the Navy’s knowledge base on ODIN and, more broadly, on DEWs. The Navy further enabled sailors who attended the training program to earn the new “Laser Weapons System Operator Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC),” spearheaded by the NSWC PHD.

The service acknowledged that weapon system instruction for fleet personnel “normally falls under Surface Combat Systems Training Command (SCSTC),” and that training on lasers is a new........

© The National Interest