Navy Laser Going to Persian Gulf

US navy to deploy laser attack weapon in Persian Gulf Device can disable patrol boats and blind or destroy surveillance drones. The US navy is going to sea for the first time with a laser attack weapon that has been shown in tests to disable patrol boats and blind or destroy surveillance drones. A prototype shipboard laser will be deployed on a converted amphibious transport and docking ship in the Persian Gulf, where Iranian fast-attack boats have harassed US warships and where the government in Tehran is building remotely piloted aircraft carrying surveillance pods and, some day potentially, rockets. The laser will not be operational until next year, but the announcement last night by Admiral Jonathan W Greenert, the chief of naval operations, seemed meant as a warning to Iran not to step up activity in the gulf in the next few months if tensions increase because of sanctions and the impasse in negotiations over the Iranian nuclear programme.