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U.S. Navy laser could be used to disable small boats used by Somali pirates

For the first time, the U.S. Navy has successfully 'blown up' a boat with a laser.

In what may seem like a scene out of an Austin Powers movie, the Office of Naval Research and its industry partner, Northrop Grumman, mounted the laser to the deck of a Navy test ship off the coast of California and aimed it at a small vessel on April 6.

As is shown in the video below, a small fire starts in the front of one of the outboard engines and that fire grows until both 200-horsepower outboards are burning.

"This is the first time a HEL (high-energy laser), at these power levels, has been put on a Navy ship, powered from that ship and used to defeat a target at-range in a maritime environment," said Peter Morrison, program officer for ONR's Maritime Laser Demonstrator in a statement.

Having access to a HEL weapon will soon provide additional military options when encountering a small-boat threat like that of Somali pirates, who use small vessels to attack larger ships and 'capture' them.

This test marks a milestone for the U.S. Navy and is a major step closer to using lasers on ships for self-defense. The major advantage to this type of technology is it travels at the speed of light.

"The marriage of directed energy and kinetic energy weapon systems opens up a new level of deterrence," said chief of naval research Rear Admiral Nevin Carr in a statement.

However, Carr said there is still much work to do and the lasers have only proven useful against small boats.