If the US Navy (USN) receives an additional USD80 million above its budget request for the High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler with Surveillance (HELIOS) initiative, the service would be able to accelerate development plans, according to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month, Adm Richardson fielded questions about HELIOS and why the service included it on its unfunded priorities list – a wish list, of sorts, where each service details programmes they would like to see funded at higher levels.
Adm Richardson explained that if the service receives an additional USD80 million, it could accelerate HELIOS “even further”.
The USN has asked Congress for an additional USD80 million above its fiscal year 2020 budget request for HELIOS. (Lockheed Martin )
“If we got a little bit more money, we could move even more aggressively still,” the four-star admiral told lawmakers.
The service is requesting USD101 million in fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020) for its Navy Laser Family of Systems (NLFoS) – an effort to field “near-term”, ship-based high-energy laser weapons, according to budget documents. If lawmakers approve the funds, the navy said it will use the money for the Surface Navy Laser Weapon System (SNLWS), in which HELIOS is included, as well as the Solid State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) effort.
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