High Energy Laser Research Initiatives

This program is executed via Scaled Directed Energy (SCADE) Science and Technology and in alignment with the Department of War Directed Energy Roadmap, as well as other strategic guidance. The goal of this program is to support the Department’s initiatives in directed energy to build a sustainable and long-term advantage. This program funds research in directed energy to enable game-changing high energy laser and high power microwave technologies. These efforts provide fundamental scientific knowledge to support future Department of War directed energy weapon systems. In practice, directed energy weapon systems have many potential advantages, including speed-of-light time-to-target, high precision, low incremental cost per kill, and a rechargeable magazine through on-board power and thermal management systems improving logistics requirements over stocks of munitions or warheads. As a result, directed energy weapon systems have the potential to perform a wide variety of military missions. This program is executed via a technical program within the JDETO referred to as the Directed Energy Foundational Research Program which enables research in directed energy technology by (1) university partners and (2) international collaboration between universities in the United States and partner countries.