{"id":12889,"date":"2018-12-19T20:56:35","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T20:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/12\/19\/why-darpa-thinks-air-assets-will-be-the-last-to-get-laser-weapons\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:54:18","slug":"why-darpa-thinks-air-assets-will-be-the-last-to-get-laser-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/electronic-warfare\/2018\/12\/19\/why-darpa-thinks-air-assets-will-be-the-last-to-get-laser-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Why DARPA thinks air assets will be the last to get laser weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 It\u2019s been a running joke inside the defense technology community for years: lasers are the weapons of the future<\/a> … and always will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while experts have long predicted laser systems, also known as directed energy weapons<\/a>, are juuuust over the horizon, more and more <\/a>technology experts have said they believe lasers are truly in the realm of the possible in the near-term for the Pentagon. Which raises the question: who gets them first?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at the Washington Post earlier this month, Steven Walker,<\/a> director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said, if possible, the Air Force would love<\/a> to get directed energy up and running tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I never met a four-star general who didn\u2019t want a laser on his airplane,\u201d Walker said. \u201cIt would be really neat. That would be a really neat technology and capability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t