Directed energy

Laser Weapons: A Blueprint for Adding Them to the Force


The country that is first to develop and field battlefield lasers will have a distinct military advantage. Directed energy weapons promise to complement kinetic weapons and help fight off various emerging threats, such as swarms of drones, fast attack boats, and cruise missiles. And the recently released Missile Defense Review calls for studying the potential of space-based lasers to intercept ballistic missiles.

But to achieve that advantage, the United States must develop lasers and other directed energy weapons sooner rather than later, and do so at scale to put them into the hands of our warfighters in a meaningful way. This week’s Directed Energy Summit, the first major gathering of its kind since the release of the Missile Defense Review, offers a forum where top national security leaders and policymakers can seize the momentum.

The question is, how? Here’s a 10-point blueprint designed to get us going in the right direction.
The Defense Department must scale up laser power and improve beam quality development. The pace of maturing these capabilities is not technology-limited – it is funding-limited. Therefore, we should increase directed energy funding to between $2 billion to $3 billion per year.
We should also take further action to reduce the size, power, weight, and cost requirements of these weapons...