US destroyers are ‘quietly’ becoming laser-armed warships

May 13, 2026, by Fatima Bahtić

The US Navy is steadily moving shipboard laser weapons from experimental programs into fleet operations, as the service establishes a dedicated training pipeline for sailors at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD)’s Directed Energy Systems Integration Laboratory (DESIL).

The US Navy recently designated DESIL as the official schoolhouse for the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN), a laser-based system already deployed aboard seven navy warships.

The courses will build the fleet’s knowledge base on that system specifically and directed energy more broadly, while also enabling sailors to earn a new Laser Weapon System Operator Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) that NSWC PHD spearheaded.

Unlike high-energy combat lasers designed to physically destroy targets, ODIN is primarily intended to disrupt or blind the sensors of unmanned aerial systems. The system also provides enhanced surveillance capabilities through high-resolution optics and long-range tracking sensors.

The navy said sailors can now earn a newly established Laser Weapon System Operator Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC), creating a formal specialization for personnel trained to operate and maintain laser weapons.

“Our facility has the SMEs — and subsequently the trainers — and a resident ODIN system,” directed energy sustainment systems engineer Davidson Sim said.

“And we have access to a test range, allowing us to actually emit and use the laser in a training environment.”

That technology is only effective in the hands of sailors trained to operate and maintain it, which is where the schoolhouse comes in, according to Lawrence Averion, directed energy branch manager.

“It’s about making sure the warfighters are ready to use the systems, and giving them the confidence that they can actually meet the mission,” he added.

Although ODIN is not a navy program of record at this time, NSWC PHD pitched SCSTC on the need for an official training program because of how the fleet has been using the directed energy system and how it has matured since it went into service in 2020.

Laser weapons on ships

The training program will combine classroom instruction with live hands-on exercises using an operational ODIN unit stationed at DESIL, which the navy describes as its only maritime directed-energy test facility with access to sea, air and land targets.

The announcement also provides a rare glimpse into how widely laser systems are already spreading across the destroyer fleet. There are eight ODIN units in all. The system at DESIL came from USS Kidd (DDG 100) when it was entering a two-year maintenance availability in Everett, Washington.

Meanwhile, USS Preble (DDG-88) is operating the more advanced high-energy laser with an integrated optical-dazzler and surveillance system, known as HELIOS.

The current ODIN unit at DESIL is slated to go back aboard USS Kidd in about a year, at the end of the ship’s maintenance availability. After that, the team expects to get systems from other destroyers as they enter the shipyard for extended periods.

“Basically for the next decade or so, we should have an ODIN unit from a ship that’s going into an upgrade,” Sim said.

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Equipment & technology

The US Navy noted that ODIN, HELIOS and the Solid State Laser Technology Maturation system all use a common Laser Weapon System Console.

That and other similarities among the systems, such as their general maintenance philosophy, allow the schoolhouse to broaden the scope of the instruction beyond ODIN, Averion said.

Accordingly, the USS Preble personnel will learn fundamentals of directed energy systems while at DESIL, and then an SME will cover details specific to HELIOS when they return to their ship, Sim explained.

“When NSWC PHD got started in directed energy, it was basically science projects. Now these ODIN systems have proven themselves important in a tactical environment. … We’ve overcome the hurdles of embracing directed energy, and we can take that foundation and apply it to the next-gen systems,” Sim concluded.