High Energy Laser Research

Abstract

This program supports the Department’s initiatives to defend the homeland, deter aggression and prevail in conflict, and build sustainable and long-term advantage. This program funds applied research in directed energy through the Joint Directed Energy Transition Office, including studies, investigations, and component and subsystem design and development to further the knowledge base of directed-energy technologies and enable future defense capabilities to be realized by the Services as part of an overall Department of Defense directed energy science and technology program. The program is broken up into the following areas: (1) directed energy sources; (2) beam control and propagation; and (3) lethality and vulnerability to reflect the OSD science and technology priorities for directed energy. Directed energy weapons systems have many potential advantages, including speed-of-light time-to-target, high precision, low incremental cost per kill, and a magazine that is recharged through on-board, fuel-based power and thermal management systems that reduce logistics requirements in contrast to stocks of munitions or warheads. Directed energy weapon systems have the potential to perform a wide variety of military missions, including high value asset and base protection, precision strike and platform self-protection versus a wide variety of missile, rocket, artillery, mortar, and air platforms. Efforts under this program are generally chosen for their potential to have an impact on multiple directed energy weapon systems and multiple military missions while complementing specific Service needs. A broad range of technologies are addressed in key areas, such as laser sources, microwave sources, beam-control optics, antennas, waveguides, modeling and simulation, and lethality mechanisms. This program provides the enabling technologies necessary to demonstrate advanced concepts for mission areas not considered to date. The lethality, hardware and software, and modeling and simulation advances provided by this program are essential to expand and build upon current architectures. Efforts in this program have been coordinated through the Department of Defense Science and Technology Executive Committee process to harmonize efforts and eliminate duplication.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2025
Source ID
0602890D8Z_2_0400_PB_2025
Change Summary Explanation
The FY 2025 decrease of $2.033 million is the result of an internal realignment to Program Element 0604924D8Z: High Energy Laser Tech Maturation (1.625 million) to support directed energy advanced component development and prototypes. In addition to the internal realignment, a reduction of -$0.507 million was applied to meet DoD overall funding reductions, which were spread to mitigate impact. Increase (.099) due to "economic assumptions”.
Service Agency Name
Office of the Secretary Of Defense

Entities

Organizations

  • Office of the Secretary of Defense

Tags

Readers

  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy

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