When U.S. Navy leaders  declared  that “the dream of a laser on every ship can become a real one” earlier this year, they apparently had one particular ship in mind. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush shot down multiple drones with a high-energy laser weapon stationed on its flight deck during a first-of-its-kind live-fire test in October 2025, the Navy recently  revealed . Photos  published  to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) on April 20 show a 20 kilowatt  Palletized High Energy Laser (P-HEL)  system—based on the LOCUST Laser Weapon System from defense contractor AV and on loan from the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO)—ahead of testing in the Atlantic Ocean.…