{"id":31089,"date":"2026-04-13T17:06:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2026\/04\/13\/us-military-eyes-high-energy-laser-dome-for-domestic-air-defense\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:37:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:37:03","slug":"us-military-eyes-high-energy-laser-dome-for-domestic-air-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/battlefield-tech\/2026\/04\/13\/us-military-eyes-high-energy-laser-dome-for-domestic-air-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"US military eyes high-energy \u2018laser dome\u2019 for domestic air defense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story originally appeared on Laser Wars, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. <\/i>Subscribe here<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. military is paving the way for the regular deployment of high-energy laser weapons on American soil for air defense amid the expanding threat of low-cost weaponized drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Defense Department have reached a \u201clandmark safety agreement\u201d regarding the use of laser weapons to counter unauthorized drones at the US-Mexico border following a safety assessment that concluded such countermeasures \u201cdo not pose undue risk to passenger aircraft,\u201d the FAA announced<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assessment and resulting agreement were the direct result of two laser<\/a> incidents<\/a> along the southern border of Texas in February, which prompted the FAA to abruptly close nearby airspace amid concerns over the potential impact on civilian air traffic. The incidents involved the U.S. Army\u2019s 20 kilowatt Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL)<\/a>, a vehicle-mounted version of defense contractor AV\u2019s LOCUST Laser Weapon System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first incident, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol personnel used an AMP-HEL on loan from the Pentagon to engage an unidentified target near Fort Bliss, triggering<\/a> an airspace shutdown above El Paso on Feb. 11. In the second, U.S. military personnel used an AMP-HEL near Fort Hancock to neutralize<\/a> a \u201cseemingly threatening\u201d drone that turned out to belong to CBP, spurring another shutdown on Feb. 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFollowing a thorough, data-informed Safety Risk Assessment, we determined that these systems do not present an increased risk to the flying public,\u201d FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said<\/a> in a statement. \u201cWe will continue working with our interagency partners to ensure the National Airspace System remains safe while addressing emerging drone threats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cfirst of its kind\u201d<\/a> safety assessment, conducted in early March by the FAA and the Pentagon\u2019s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401) counter-drone organization at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, reportedly yielded<\/a> two significant conclusions: 1) the LOCUST\u2019s automatic shutoff mechanism will consistently prohibit the system from firing under unsafe circumstances, a point that AV executives have emphasized in recent weeks<\/a>, and 2) in the event of a system failure, the laser beam itself cannot inflict catastrophic damage even on aircraft flying at its maximum effective range, let alone those at cruising altitudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how Aaron Westman, AV senior director for business development, described the LOCUST\u2019s safety protocols in a company blog post<\/a> <\/u>on March 23:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time an operator presses the \u201cfire\u201d button, the system runs through a series of automated checks. Some examples include:<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n