U.S. Army Accelerates Laser and Microwave Weapons to Defeat Mass Drone Attacks.

A blunt statement posted this week by the Department of War’s Chief Technology Office on X signaled a shift in tone from experimentation to execution. “Yes, the Department of War has directed energy weapons. Yes, we are scaling them,” the message read, leaving little ambiguity about intent. In Washington’s current branding, “Department of War” functions as a secondary designation for the Department of Defense under a 5 September 2025 executive order, but the language matters. It frames lasers and high-power microwaves not as futuristic research projects but as warfighting tools moving toward broader operational use. The question now confronting U.S. planners is whether these systems can transition from limited prototypes and niche shipboard installations into dependable defensive firepower capable of restoring magazine depth as cheap drones and massed cruise-missile salvos increasingly define modern battlefields. Read more...

Mounted on a Stryker M-SHORAD vehicle, the U.S. Army's 50 kW-class high-energy laser is designed to engage and destroy small drones, loitering munitions, and select rocket and mortar threats at the speed of light, providing a low-cost, deep-magazine air defense option for maneuver units (U.S. DoW).

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