The exact level of power the LaWS will use is unknown but estimated between 15–50 kW for engaging small aircraft and high-speed boats. With tests going well, the Navy expected to deploy a laser weapon operationally between 20 with an effective range of 1 mi (1.6 km 0.87 nmi). It is directed to targets by the Phalanx CIWS radar. The Navy spent about $40 million over the past six years on research, development, and testing of the laser weapon. The LaWS was to be installed on USS Ponce in summer 2014 for a 12-month trial deployment. The May 2012 NSWC test used a close-in weapon control system to enable the beam director to track an unmanned aerial vehicle target. Navy's Directed Energy and Electric Weapon Systems (DE&EWS) program. In 2010, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions was awarded an $11 million contract to support the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in the development of LaWS for the U.S. Against a larger aircraft like a helicopter, LaWS can burn through some vital components to cause it to crash. Targeting the platform is more effective than targeting individual crewmembers, although the LaWS is accurate enough to target explosive rockets if on board, whose detonations could kill the operators. When facing small boats, the laser can target a craft's motor to disable it, then repeat this against other boats in rapid succession, requiring only a few seconds of firing per boat.

By lasing a vital point, LaWS can shoot down a small UAV in as little as two seconds. Scalable power levels allow it to be used on low power to dazzle a person's eye non-lethally to turn away a threat, and to be used at high power, up to 30,000 watts (30 kW), to fry sensors, burn out motors, and detonate explosive materials. The LaWS is designed to be used against low-end asymmetric threats.

One of its advantages over projectile weapons is the low cost per shot: Each firing of the weapon requires only the minimal cost of generating the energetic pulse by contrast, ordnance for projectile weapons must be designed, manufactured, handled, transported, and maintained, and takes up storage space. LaWS uses an infrared beam from a solid-state laser array which can be tuned to high output to destroy a target or low output to warn or cripple the sensors of a target. The LaWS is a ship-defense system that has so far publicly engaged an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) and a simulated small-boat attacker.

Long war 2 laser weapons