Directed energy lasers

Extracted Attributes

• Power Scaling

  Ranges from 30 kW (LaWS) to 300 kW (nLIGHT 2023) with goals for 1 MW (HELSI)

• Key Advantages

  Speed-of-light delivery, pinpoint accuracy, low cost per engagement, and virtually unlimited magazine

• Regulatory Status

  Lasers designed to cause permanent blindness are banned by the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons

• Primary Categories

  Low-power dazzlers (non-lethal/incapacitating) and High-power lasers (destructive)

• Technical Limitation

  Atmospheric thermal blooming, which requires clear air or a vacuum for optimal performance

• Environmental Sensitivities

  Fog, smoke, dust, rain, snow, and smog

Timeline

• HELIOS 60 kW system begins development for U.S. Navy destroyer-class ships. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2020-01-01

• nLIGHT successfully develops a 300kW-class laser, exceeding program objectives for the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI). (Source: Web Search (nLIGHT))

  2023-01-01

• nLIGHT begins delivery of 50kW-class high-energy lasers for the U.S. Army's DE M-SHORAD initiative. (Source: Web Search (nLIGHT))

  2025-01-01

• India's DRDO successfully tests the 30 kW Mk-II (A) DEW, demonstrating drone annihilation at a 5 km range. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-04-01

• Expected deployment of the UK's DragonFire laser weapon on ships, aircraft, and ground vehicles. (Source: Web Search (Wikipedia))

  2027-01-01

Laser weapon

A laser weapon is a type of directed-energy weapon that uses lasers to inflict damage. Whether they will be deployed as practical, high-performance military weapons remains to be seen. One of the major issues with laser weapons is atmospheric thermal blooming, which is still largely unsolved. This issue is exacerbated when there is fog, smoke, dust, rain, snow, smog, foam, or purposely dispersed obscurant chemicals present. In essence, a laser generates a beam of light that requires clear air or a vacuum to operate. Laser-based directed energy weapons generally have two primary types: low-power laser dazzlers that blind optical systems or human eyes, and high-power lasers that can physically damage or destroy targets, such as enemy aircraft and ammunition. Many types of low-power laser have been identified as having the potential to be used as incapacitating non-lethal weapons. They can cause temporary or permanent vision loss when directed at the eyes. The extent, nature, and duration of visual impairment resulting from exposure to laser light depend on various factors, such as the laser's power, wavelength(s), collimation of the beam, orientation of the beam, and duration of exposure. Even lasers with a power output of less than one watt can cause immediate and permanent vision loss under certain conditions, making them potentially non-lethal but incapacitating weapons. However, the use of such lasers is the subject of controversy due to the extreme handicap that laser-induced blindness represents. The Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons bans the use of weapons designed to cause permanent blindness. Weapons designed to cause temporary blindness, known as dazzlers, are used by military and sometimes law enforcement organizations. Incidents of pilots being exposed to lasers while flying have prompted aviation authorities to implement special procedures to deal with such hazards. High-power laser weapons capable of directly damaging or destroying a target in combat are still in the experimental stage. The general idea of laser-beam weaponry is to hit a target with a train of brief pulses of light. The United States Navy has tested the very short-range (1 mile), 30-kW Laser Weapon System or LaWS to be used against targets like small UAVs, rocket-propelled grenades, and visible motorboat or helicopter engines. It has been described as "six welding lasers strapped together." A 60 kW system, HELIOS, is being developed for destroyer-class ships as of 2020. India's DRDO successfully tested a 30 kW directed energy weapon (DEW), designated Mk-II (A) DEW, in April 2025 which can annihilate drones at a range of 5 km.

Web Search Results

• Directed Energy - nLIGHT

  nLIGHT nLIGHT ## Directed Energy nLIGHT’s high-power directed energy lasers enable next-generation layered land and sea defenses that complement traditional kinetic defenses by offering a deep magazine, low cost per engagement, and speed-of-light delivery to defeat wide range of targets, including drones, rockets, artillery, mortars, and missiles. #### Deploying 50kW-Class Lasers In 2025, nLIGHT is delivering a 50kW-class high-energy laser (HEL) for integration into Stryker combat vehicles as part of the U.S. Army’s Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) initiative. This laser weapons system enhances battlefield survivability, providing an efficient and cost-effective countermeasure against drones, rockets, artillery, and airborne threats. [...] Pioneering the Technology Stack for Directed Energy Lasers For more than two decades, nLIGHT has led the world in the development of lasers for directed energy. nLIGHT has advanced performance across the entire stack of technology from semiconductor lasers to high-power beam directors. nLIGHT’s vertically integrated design and manufacturing processes enable complete control over system performance, ensuring field-serviceable, ruggedized lasers capable of operation in the most demanding environments. To learn more about nLIGHT,contact our sales team. ©2025 nLIGHT, Inc. All Rights Reserved Directed EnergySensingAdvanced Manufacturing Semiconductor LasersFiber LasersOptical Fibers ResourcesInvestorsCareers Terms & ConditionsPrivacyQuality [...] #### Scaling to Megawatt-Class Lasers Under the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), nLIGHT is advancing its coherent beam combined (CBC) architecture to deliver a megawatt-class laser over the next two years. After successful development of a 300kW-class laser in 2023 that exceeded program objectives, nLIGHT won $171 million contract for the second phase of the DoD’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Research & Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI). In addition to scaling to 1 MW this laser will develop advanced adaptive optics for atmospheric correction. Pioneering the Technology Stack for Directed Energy Lasers

• Directed Energy: The Focus on Laser Weapons Intensifies - RAND

  ## Bringing Directed Energy Into Focus Lasers are only one type of DEW, a broad category that encompasses efforts to harness and weaponise different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Electronic warfare (EW) has been a growing feature of modern conflict for over a century. Since the advent of radio and subsequent development of radar, militaries have exploited different frequencies for communications and intelligence-gathering purposes. Low-energy lasers have similarly been used for range-finding and targeting, enabling precision weapons to be guided into a target by forces on the ground and reducing the risk of friendly fire or civilian casualties. Electronic warfare has been a growing feature of modern conflict for over a century. [...] These emerging categories of weapons are designed for a variety of targets. Emitting a stream of photons, HELs are useful for engaging fast-moving targets within line-of-sight, such as destroying aerial or missile threats to ships, a base, or ground forces. Even at lower power settings, lasers can dazzle the sensitive electro-optical sensors on their targets (or, indeed, the human eye), blinding them and making it harder to manoeuvre safely or carry out their mission. Emitting radiofrequency waves, meanwhile, HPRFs and HPMs are useful for disrupting electronic systems, making them especially useful against military equipment, drones, and robotic systems. Unlike HELs, which focus on one target at a time, HPRFs and HPMs can engage multiple threats within a wide beamwidth simultaneously. [...] With this trial, the culmination of £100 million of investment to date, the United Kingdom joined other nations racing to develop and deploy what are known in military parlance as directed energy weapons (DEW). Though the technology is yet to mature, the United States has begun to deploy early laser weapons on several of its naval destroyers, as well as testing ground- and air-based versions. Following the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Israel has sought to expedite development of its own Iron Beam laser weapon to help shoot down incoming rockets and drones, augmenting the kinetic interceptors of its Iron Dome missile defence system. China, Russia, France, India, Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Japan, and others are investing in their own national programmes, with varying degrees of progress.

• High-Energy Lasers | Raytheon - RTX

  Raytheon’s high-energy laser systems use photons, or particles of light, to carry out military missions and civil defense. This directed energy technology enables detection of threats, tracking during maneuvers, and positive visual identification to defeat a wide range of threats, including unmanned aerial systems, rockets, artillery and mortars. 50 kilowatt-class laser mounted on a U.S. Army Stryker vehicle ### HIGH-ENERGY LASER #### See how Raytheon laser weapons protect people and assets against short-range aerial threats. Download PDF The directed energy weapon system — part of the U.S. Army’s Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense, or DE M-SHORAD — acquires, tracks, targets and defeats mortars and large drones in complex swarming scenarios.

• Directed-energy weapon

  "DEW" redirects here. For other uses, see DEW (disambiguation) "DEW (disambiguation)"). A directed-energy weapon (DEW) is a ranged weapon that damages its target with highly focused energy without a solid projectile, including lasers, microwaves, particle beams, and sound beams. Potential applications of this technology include weapons that target personnel, missiles, vehicles, and optical devices. [...] ### Laser [edit] Main article: Laser weapon A laser weapon is a directed-energy weapon based on lasers. #### DragonFire [edit] Main article: DragonFire (weapon) "DragonFire (weapon)") An example of a laser directed-energy weapon is the DragonFire currently being developed by the United Kingdom. It is reportedly in the 50 kW class and is capable of engaging any target within line-of-sight at a currently classified range. It has been tested against drones and mortar rounds and is expected to equip ships, aircraft and ground vehicles from 2027. #### Integrated Drone Detection & Interdiction System [edit] This section is an excerpt from Integrated Drone Detection & Interdiction System.[edit] [...] Directed-energy weapons can be used discreetly; radiation does not generate sound and is invisible if outside the visible spectrum. Light is, for practical purposes, unaffected by gravity, windage and Coriolis force, giving it an almost perfectly flat trajectory. This makes aim much more precise and extends the range to line-of-sight, limited only by beam diffraction and spread (which dilute the power and weaken the effect), and absorption or scattering by intervening atmospheric contents. Lasers travel at light-speed and have long range, making them suitable for use in space warfare. Laser weapons potentially eliminate many logistical problems in terms of ammunition supply, as long as there is enough energy to power them.[citation needed]

• Directed energy weapons - Canada.ca

  Enabling science and technology High energy lasers High Energy Lasers (HELs) have significant advantages over conventional munitions, such as the ability to engage targets at the speed of light with pinpoint accuracy and a virtually unlimited magazine. However, they can be adversely affected by atmospheric conditions like rain or fog. High power microwaves High power microwave weapons (HPMs) have a shorter range than HELs and their beam degrades over long distances, but they are not affected by weather and can impact targets over a wide area. Millimeter waves Millimeter wave directed energy has various non-lethal military applications, including crowd control and area denial. Although proven to be very safe, millimeter wave energy has the capability to produce significant injuries. [...] Directed energy weapons Organizations: Produced in partnership by National Research Council Canada and Defence Research and Development Canada. Published: 2023 Directed energy weapons (DEWs) use concentrated energy from electromagnetic or particle technology, rather than kinetic energy, to degrade or destroy targets. DEWs have the capability to damage physical targets over several kilometers with high precision and accuracy. As the technology advances, weaponized directed energy (DE) systems are becoming more powerful, prevalent, and increasingly integrated into air, land and sea platforms. Enabling science and technology High energy lasers