US CENTCOM released footage in 2026 showing an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer equipped with the steerable high-energy laser operating off Iran's coast while launching strikes. The New York Post and multiple outlets (Gulf News, Livemint, GB News) said HELIOS has engaged Iranian drones.

First known combat deployment of a high-energy shipboard laser in this conflict. They were used against low-cost Iranian Shahed-style drones and small aerial threats in the Gulf. Before the war, USS Preble (the first HELIOS-equipped ship) downed four drones in expanded testing in early February 2026.

HELIOS is made by Lockheed Martin. It is a ~60+ kW high-energy laser with dazzler/surveillance. USS Preble is a DDG-88, Arleigh Burke-class) destroyer. USS Preble is being used in the Iran war.

Other destroyers that should be getting actual HELIOS hardware (though Aegis combat system upgrades and then the lasers) are Arleigh Burkes DDG-81, 89, 122, 124, and 127.

CENTCOM footage also shows the lower-power ODIN dazzler laser (sensor-blinding system) on destroyers. In 2022, the US Navy reported they had installed operational lasers on at least three Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyers—the USS Dewey (DDG-105), Stockdale (DDG-106), and Spruance (DDG-111). The ships have received the AN/SEQ-4 Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN), a solid-state laser capable of defeating unmanned aerial vehicles by disabling or destroying their sensor. There should now be 8 ODIN lasers total across Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.