Most powerful naval laser weapon in the PLAN or in the world I wonder. The size seems to suggest the typical 100KW to 150KW power range which is similar to what the USN is playing around with as well. Basically good for anti-droning. Not even long range anti-droning. Probably good to around 20km out at most? This is why laser weapons are a waste of space and power until the physics change so much that you can pack serious power in the same volume of space.
20km? No, probably half that, or even less. HELIOS for example has a range of 8km.
20km range you may as well install a CIWS with shorads that will soon have similar reach.
The entire point of a laser is its bottomless magazine. We already have CIWS and SRSAMs like Type 1130 and HHQ-10; the problem with the Type 1130 is limited magazine and limited range, while the problem with HHQ-10 is limited magazine and high cost, especially relative to drones.
PS also lasers aren't effective against hypersonic anti-ship weapons because hypersonics cover the 20km distance in about 1.5 seconds.
Not sure anyone is thinking about using lasers against hypersonic weapons (for now). Mostly drones and ASCMs. And maybe small boats/USVs. The threat of drones in the modern era of warfare IMO is enough to justify having one of these around as a third layer of hard-kill defense.
It's also useless against sea-skimmers because sightline for laser is limited by the horizon and they're usually not mounted high up enough. Gives it like a 10km to 15km which reduces your effective range. Then you factor in detection, tracking, locking, motion of laser turret... that's leaving you with maybe a 5 second to 10 second response window for a single mach 1 to mach 2 AshM.
The HELIOS laser looks like it's about 6 decks above the waterline on an Arleigh Burke, which is probably ~18m high. Against a sea-skimmer at 5m height the visual horizon to such an object is 23.13km. 23km visual horizon for a laser is plenty, especially given both the limited range of the laser to begin with as well as the fact that the radar horizon for a Burke's SPG-62 FCR vs the same sea-skimmer is probably only about 5-7km or so more depending on its exact height.
If naval lasers want to be a thing, they need to be able to fry through ordinance and drones within 2 seconds of lasing the target before moving onto the next target. Be able to engage well beyond 20km with that above effectiveness.
I don't think they will need to or be asked to engage targets beyond 20-25km TBH, at least not during our lifetimes.
