High Energy Laser Advanced Component Development & Prototype

Mission— High Energy Laser Advanced Component Development & Prototype

This program is executed via the Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (JDETO) in alignment with the Department of Defense Directed Energy Roadmap, as well as other strategic guidance. Section 219 of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act designated a senior official for directed energy and redesignated a legacy office as the JDETO with reporting to the senior official. Currently, the Principal Director for Directed Energy serves as this senior official and updates the Department of Defense Directed Energy Roadmap on an annual basis. The goal of this program, in turn, is to support the Department’s initiatives in directed energy to build a sustainable and long-term advantage, in addition to a resilient joint force and defense ecosystem. This program funds advanced component development and prototypes in directed energy aimed at reducing the technology risk, engineering integration, and life-cycle costs associated with directed energy weapon systems. These efforts inform requirements to develop functional and allocated baselines of end-item system configurations. 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 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. As a result, directed energy weapon systems have the potential to perform a wide variety of military missions. Activities conducted under this program will ultimately enable the demonstration of military utility for mission areas across the Department of Defense.

Mission— High Energy Tech Maturation

This project is part of an overall Department of Defense strategy in Joint directed energy technology maturation and utility. Efforts within this project will focus on enabling next-generation directed energy weapons that engage threats at longer ranges with shorter engagement timelines in adverse environments with improved size, weight, and power requirements. These efforts complement, and will be closely coordinated with, other Department efforts directed at specific Service and Agency missions. This project builds upon other investments in directed energy technology maturation and utility by the Services and Agencies to harmonize Department efforts and eliminate duplication. As a result, efforts in this project will transition directed-energy technology to the Services and Agencies at a high enough technical readiness level for direct insertion into directed energy weapon systems. This project is executed via a rebranded technical program, a new technical program, and a new initiative within the JDETO. The rebranded technical program is the Directed Energy Tech Maturation Program, which enables (1) advanced prototypes in support of demonstrating mission-driven lethality and survivability and (2) test and evaluation in a relevant field environment with Joint-international participation. The new technical program is the Directed Energy Tech Utility Program, which enables (3) studies, analyses, and evaluations in mission-driven lethality and survivability that supports directed energy military utility assessments and (4) experimentation in an operationally relevant environment with Joint-international participation. Note that (1)-(4) are in alignment with the near-, mid-, and long-term goals of Department of Defense Directed Energy Roadmap and enable transition. The new initiative is the Joint Laser Weapon System Initiative. This initiative is also in alignment with the near-, mid-, and long-term goals of the Department of Defense Directed Energy Roadmap. Both the Directed Energy Tech Utility Program and the Joint Laser Weapon System Initiative are the result of mandatory funding in FY 2026.

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (3)