Germany's Naval Laser Weapon Is Finally on the Horizon
Rheinmetall and MBDA’s high-energy laser weapon could enter service with the German Navy by the end of the decade.
After more than a decade in development, the Germany military’s shipboard high-energy laser weapon just took a major step forward.
German defense giant Rheinmetall and multinational European missile maker MBDA have transferred their laser weapon demonstrator to the German Navy for ongoing testing at the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition in Meppen following “the successful completion of a one-year trial phase at sea,” the companies announced on Monday. The demonstrator is said to operate in the 20 kilowatt range with architecture scalable up to 100 kw, and the most recent testing involved “100 live-firing trials and significantly more tracking trials,” the companies said.
Rheinmetall and MBDA have big plans for the system. According to the companies, an “operational” laser weapon “could be available” to the Germany Navy as soon as 2029, “providing a powerful and cost-effective addition to conventional guided missiles” for the sea service amid the rising threat of low-cost weaponized drones in combat zones like the Red Sea.
“With its ability to precisely and effectively neutralize drones and other small, fast-moving targets, it addresses one of the most pressing challenges of our time,” Rheinmetall said of the system in a statement. “An operational laser weapon system complements cannons and guided missiles, particularly for the defense against drones and drone swarms, as well as for attacking speedboats and, if necessary, guided missiles in the closer and immediate vicinity.”
Germany is one of 18 countries publicly known to possess high-energy laser weapons.
While Rheinmetall and MBDA have been developing high-energy. laser weapons since 2008, the two companies have been working on naval lasers in particular since at least 2015, when the former’s prototype shipboard system in the Baltics engaged targets on land for the first time ever in Europe, according to Naval News. Rheinmetall first announced a collaboration with MBDA to develop a laser weapon demonstrator for the German Navy’s K130 Braunschweig-class corvettes in 2019 before the companies integrated a containerized version of the system into a F124 Sachsen-class air defense frigate in 2021 ahead of at-sea testing between June 2022 and September 2023. (The two companies signed a fresh cooperation agreement in September 2024 to bring a maritime-based system to market “within the next five to six years.”)
The demonstrator positions Germany as the latest entrant in a growing race to field shipboard laser weapons. The US Navy has spent the last decade experimenting with laser weapon variants at sea, from the now-retired XN-1 LaWS to Lockheed Martin’s 60 kw High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system currently installed aboard the USS Preble, though budget cuts and power constraints have slowed deployment. (The service’s new 400 kw SONGBOW effort represents its next big push in that arena.) Meanwhile, China publicly showcased its own naval laser ambitions with the unveiling of the LY-1 laser weapon during a September military parade in Beijing.
That race now includes not just the US and China, but a rapidly expanding cohort of global players. The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense currently aims to field a 50 kw ‘DragonFire’ naval laser aboard a Type 45 destroyer by 2027 following successful precision trials. France successfully tested its HELMA-P laser weapon demonstrator aboard the Horizon type Air Defense destroyer Forbin in 2023. Rafael, the defense technology company behind Israel’s ‘Iron Beam’ laser weapon, is actively developing a naval variant of the system. Japanese defense contractor Kawasaki Heavy Industries recently unveiled a concept for a naval version of its counter-drone laser system. And this is to say nothing of Australian defense contractor EOS’s work on a shipboard version of its new 100 kw ‘Apollo’ laser weapon.
It’s worth noting that Germany’s laser push also reflects MBDA’s growing role in Europe’s emerging directed energy ecosystem. The company has been actively working alongside defense industry partners Leonardo and QinetiQ on the UK’s DragonFire for years. In 2022, the company took a stake, alongside defense contractor Safran, in French laser and optics specialist CILAS, maker of the HELMA-P. In late 2024, the company announced a memorandum of understanding with Leonardo to create new laser weapon systems for the Italian Navy. The following August, France announced that it has ordered a so-called “SYDERAL” (Système Laser de Défense de Nouvelle Génération, or “New Generation Laser Defense System”) demonstrator from a consortium made up of MBDA, Safran, CILAS and defense contractor Thales. The company is also involved in the €25 million Tactical Advanced Laser Optical Systems-TWO European Defence Fund program launched in 2023 to develop 100 kw laser weapons by the end of the decade. Taken together, these programs show MBDA positioning itself as a central node in Europe’s laser weapon industrial base.
Despite years of research and development from Rheinmetall and MBDA (among others), integrating directed energy weapons aboard ships still remains technically challenging. At sea, lasers must contend with platform vibrations, salt corrosion, beam jitter, and atmospheric distortion, not to mention the considerable power requirements needed to maintain a stable beam. These constraints help explain why many shipboard laser projects have failed to transition from prototype to operational system. Germany’s successful year-long trial at sea marks a notable achievement in overcoming some of these maritime-specific hurdles.
Make no mistake: the global naval laser arms race is here. With the US, China, and European nations increasingly pursuing maritime directed energy capabilities, the question is not whether advanced navies will field shipboard lasers, but when — and how effectively.
In the meantime: