Navy Two Years from Fielding Laser Cannons

Yup. Really.

Never mind looming defense cuts or residual technical challenges. The Navy's chief futurist is pushing up the anticipated date for when sailors can expect to use laser weapons on the decks of their ships, and raising expectations for robotic submarines.

"On directed energy," — the term for the Navy's laser cannons, "I'd say two years," Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, the chief of the Office of Naval Research, told Danger Room in a Monday interview. The previous estimate, which came from Klunder's laser technicians earlier this year, was that it will take four years at the earliest for a laser gun to come aboard.