Laser

MDA Request Preserves Priorities, Targets Laser Tech Development

The Missile Defense Agency’s fiscal 2017 budget request of $7.5 billion preserves priorities it set last year but also continues to tee up several science and technology experiments to get after more complex and evolving threats.

The agency is seeking $72 million in weapons technology development to build “the technological foundation” for a next-generation laser system that can defeat both advanced threats and raids, according to an MDA budget document. A Directed Energy program will continue to develop two types of lasers that are powerful but compact.

Another initiative would spend $90 million to put an advanced sensor into a multispectral targeting system and the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft combination. The agency would also award contracts to design a laser that could fit on a UAV to be used in boost-phase missile defense, according to the budget document.