Officer praises laser, electromagnetic guns

Lasers that shoot down drones with precision and electromagnetic cannons that fire more than 160 kilometers are part of the future of naval warfare, promising to be cheaper to use than conventional weapons, a US admiral said on Tuesday.

Admiral Jonathan Greenert, who as Chief of Naval Operations sets the navy's future strategy, said during a lecture at the Australian National University that the experimental guns were inexpensive to fire and an important departure from gunpowder.

The laser gun, known as a Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, is being tested aboard a warship in the Persian Gulf, he said.