Vice Admiral Brendan McClain, commander of US Surface Forces Pacific, recently said that developing laser weapons is too time-consuming and expensive, and modern laser technologies do not meet expectations in the fight against drones and missiles.

As stated in the publication National Interest, The U.S. Navy has been testing prototypes of laser and other directed energy weapons for more than a decade, but they have not produced the expected results.

Long range remains a key concern: Most modern lasers can only hit targets less than a mile away, and the Navy can’t afford to let missiles or drones get that close to ships.

But the current situation, where the Navy is using cheap drones and missiles worth millions of dollars to shoot down cheap Houthi anti-ship missiles, for example, does not comply with the command.