Installing a new weapon on a warship is not easy. It requires complex integration work and, in many cases, removing the ship from service for weeks or months to adapt it in a shipyard. This is not the case with LOCUSTthe anti-drone laser system AeroVironment. In a test carried out last October, of which the American defense company has now provided more details, the weapon It was installed in a single day, the soldiers learned to use it in minutes and its effectiveness rate against targets was a spectacular 100%..
The setting was the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). Instead of integrating the platform permanently, it was placed on the deck of the aircraft carrier and was fixed with chains. This allowed engineers to deploy the weapon and begin testing. without modifying the structure of the ship.
According to the company, this palletized method avoids the usual problems in incorporating advanced weapons on ships. The company claims that LOCUST was brought to the flight deck with a forklift, connected to the aircraft carrier’s power and removed at the end of the demonstration. Delivery and installation of the system took less than 24 hours.
He also states that the system was not a simple land version placed on the ship, but a variant adapted to the maritime environmentwith reinforced electronics against salt fog, humidity and vibrations, stabilization to compensate for the movement of the ship and environmental protection for prolonged deployments.
Install the weapon as a self-contained module placed on an ob platformspit also assumes that Upgrades or repairs do not require the ship to be sent to dry dock. The laser unit can be replaced or removed when necessary.
The sailors learned to handle it in one hour and hit 100% of the targets.
Another very notable aspect of the test was the speed with which the sailors learned to use the system. AeroVironment claims that even crew members who had never used laser weapons were able to track and hit targets after a short training session. Approximately an hour after starting to use the system, they successfully engaged aerial targets.
During the test, The platform achieved all its objectives, 100%demonstrating that current crews could use these systems without the need for long training periods.
Operational concessions
Despite the efficiency and speed with which the system can be shipped, there were operational concessions. The laser position forced the aircraft carrier to pause its normal flight operations and, after the test, the system had to be removed so that the ship could resume its normal tasks.
This is a limitation that a temporary installation like LOCUST has. In real combat, threats like drones can appear suddenly, so there may not be time to stop other operations.
The company noted that these problems could be resolved placing the system in other parts of the ship or adapting designs for continuous deployment. The LOCUST laser is also not limited to aircraft carriers and could be used on other ships.