The Pentagon is doubling down on laser weapons research

Despite years of promises, the latest budget shows directed energy systems are still largely confined to development and experimentation.

[Photo: U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Wikimedia Commons]

After months of bold promises about its directed energy weapon ambitions, the U.S. military is putting its money where its mouth is.

The U.S. Defense Department’s published a “skinny” version at its historic $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request on April 3, with plans to release additional details (including my precious justification books and their program-by-program spending plans) on April 21. While this budget release only offers a high-level view of the U.S. military’s spending priorities, a preliminary analysis indicates the Pentagon wants to pour more than $2 billion into research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) programs involving high-energy laser weapons and other directed energy systems in fiscal year 2027.

This funding, if approved,........

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