http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/tech/innovation/navy-new-technology/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Excerpt:
(CNN) -- Imagine ships that fire missiles at seven times the speed of sound without using explosives, or that use lasers to destroy threats at the cost of about a dollar a shot, and vessels making fuel from the very seawater in which they're floating.
That's the glimpse of the high-tech future the U.S. Navy gave this week. And these aren't just ideas. They've all been shown to work to some degree.
The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) will be tested at sea this summer.
One, a laser weapon prototype, will be tested aboard the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf this summer, the Navy said.
"This is a revolutionary capability," Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of Naval Research, said in a statement. "This very affordable technology is going to change the way we fight and save lives."
The laser weapon is design to take on aircraft or small surface vessels that may pose threats to Navy ships. Tests in 2011 and 2012 showed it can accomplish that mission.
