Laser weapons are no longer limited to the light-sabers of the Star Wars series.
In fact, the U.S. Navy announced that its plan to use laser cannons on its ships has become a reality.
"Our nation's adversaries are pursuing a variety of ways to try and restrict our freedom to operate."
The plan has been seven years in the making, but the U.S. Navy has only installed its laser weapon aboard the USS Ponce since August.
According to Navy offficials, the weapon can set fire to targets such as drones and small ships at the speed of light. Officials also say that the intensity of the laser can be controlled.
A Congressional Research Service report explains that the laser weapon combines several separate light beams together in order to make the laser weapon more powerful.
Even though the 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System cost $40 million, Navy officials have said the technology is cost-efficient.
Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) says that the new technology only costs "a dollar per shot."
"Spending about $1 per shot of a directed-energy source that never runs out gives us an alternative to firing costly munitions at inexpensive threats," Klunder said.
Pictured here is a photo of the U.S. Navy's prototype for the gun, before Navy installed the weapon on its existing ship.
(Photo Credit: US Navy)
Navy's also planning on expanding its laser program beyond 2014. The Congressional Research Service shows that it plans to use more laser weapons by 2018 and even the year 2020:
The Navy reportedly anticipates moving to a shipboard laser program of record in “the FY2018 time frame” and achieving an initial operational capability (IOC) with a shipboard laser in FY2020 or FY2021.