A US Navy ship downed a flying drone with a "solid state laser" in the Pacific Ocean, the service branch announced on Friday.

The USS Portland (LPD-27), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, deployed its Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) against an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) last week during a demonstration, the first such use of a high-energy class solid-state laser, the Navy said.

"By conducting advanced at sea tests against UAVs and small crafts, we will gain valuable information on the capabilities of the Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator against potential threats," US Navy Capt. Karrey Sanders, the ship's commanding officer, said in a press release.

"The Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator is a unique capability the Portland gets to test and operate for the Navy, while paving the way for future weapons systems, " Sanders added. "With this new advanced capability, we are redefining war at sea for the Navy."

https://www.pulse.ng/bi/politics/watch-this-us-navy-ship-destroy-a-flying-drone-with-a-laser-weapon/elb6zh8

Trump will attend the historic NASA and SpaceX astronaut launch in Florida next week

>>9285041

President Donald Trump said he will travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to attend the historic NASA and SpaceX launch next week, local outlet WESH-TV reported.

"Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security," Trump said, according to the outlet.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley crew SpaceX's new Crew Dragon ship launched from a Falcon 9 rocket on May 27.

This is the first time that SpaceX, which was founded by Elon Musk in 2002, is launching astronauts into space and the first time in nearly a decade that Americans will be flown to space on US soil. This is also the first time NASA is sending astronauts into orbit aboard a spacecraft built by a private company.

According to Politico , Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida urged Trump to attend. Waltz said Trump was "fired up" after a discussion they had on "the importance of the event to the evolution of the US space program," Politico reported.

"With everything going on, the relaunch of America, the relaunch of our economy, the relaunch of Florida, the symbolism I think is really exciting," Waltz, who plans to fly aboard Air Force One from Washington with Trump for the event said, according to Politico.

The astronauts will live on the space station for about three months, then return to Earth in a space capsule, and finally parachute into the Atlantic Ocean, Business Insider reported.

On Thursday, Trump also joked about sending reporters into space "to get rid of you for a while," The Hill reported.

https://www.pulse.ng/bi/politics/trump-will-attend-the-historic-nasa-and-spacex-astronaut-launch-in-florida-next-week/03r67dv