Navy officials announced that they tested a new directed energy weapon at the end of last year against a drone target, marking the continued development of a broader array of laser weapons.

The annual report from the Director of the Operational Test and Evaluation revealed that the High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system, also known as HELIOS, was successfully tested on the USS Preble to evaluate functionality and capability.

The agency said that the test was conducted against an “unmanned aerial vehicle,” after which they “collected imagery of the engagements to support the evaluation of system performance.” The image indeed shows a white beam of directed energy originating from the USS Preble.

Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor which developed HELIOS, previously announced that the directed energy weapon was the first tactical laser system to be “integrated into existing ships and provide directed energy capability to the fleet.” The company emphasized the “deep magazine, low cost per kill, speed of light delivery, and precision response” enabled by HELIOS.

Pentagon officials have also awarded Lockheed Martin contracts to develop similar directed energy weapons mounted on aircraft and ground vehicles. The laser weapons are “designed to defeat a growing range of threats to military forces and infrastructure across all domains.”

Several branches of the United States military are implementing directed energy capabilities to handle challenges such as drone swarms, which are difficult to combat with kinetic weapons.

General James Mingus, the vice chief of staff for the Army, testified to lawmakers last year that “directed energy systems offer several advantages over traditional kinetic weapons, including rapid engagement times, reduced collateral damage, and unlimited magazine capacity.”