\u201cBrace yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, as players of Bungie\u2019s smash-hit video game<\/a> \u201cHalo 3\u2033 regain control of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, the virtual super-soldier hoists to his shoulder what millions of gamers have affectionately nicknamed the \u201cSpartan Laser,\u201d a hulking, fearsome weapon powered by futuristic battery cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When primed with a squeeze and hold of the controller\u2019s trigger, the device unleashes a blast of directed energy capable of devastating multiple targets, virtual infantry and armored opponents. Heat management forces downtime between shots, a nod to the realities that often limit fire in real weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While such immensely powerful devices have long been a staple of computer games, movies and science-fiction novels, success in fielding practical weapons that can zap targets on real-world battlefields<\/a> has eluded governments, scientists and defense contractors for more than a half-century. At least until recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe hundreds of systems in the field? It\u2019s coming,\u201d Andy Lowery, the chief operating officer of defense company Epirus, a developer of directed-energy and counter-drone systems, said in an interview. \u201cYou\u2019ll see tens of billions of dollars, I think, being applied once we get into production, manufacturing and then operations and sustainment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Department of Defense is spending an average $1 billion a year<\/a> on developing directed-energy weapons with the goal of using them to defeat threats including drones and missiles. It requested at least $669 million in fiscal 2023 for unclassified research, testing and evaluation and another $345 million for unclassified procurement, the Congressional Research Service reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu included directed energy on a list of 14 critical and emerging defense technologies released in February 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Potential applications abound. High-energy lasers, HEL, and high-power microwave, HPM, systems can be used for short-range air defense<\/a>, SHORAD, and to counter unmanned aerial systems, C-UAS, as well as rockets, artillery and mortars, C-RAM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat does a laser do to impart damage on the set target, utilizing directed energy? It just basically heats up and melts, right? Just a ton of energy. There\u2019s no, really, wave interaction,\u201d Lowery said. \u201cWith HPM, you\u2019re actually trying to use the electro-magnetics in the air to cease the ability for anything that uses voltage and current to work, and you\u2019re trying to do that as efficiently as possible, because it\u2019s not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The weapons now in development come mainly in two forms: high-energy lasers, like Rafael\u2019s Iron Beam<\/a>, and Epirus\u2019 HPMs. The former focuses a beam or beams of energy to blind, cut or inflict heat damage on a target. The latter unleashes waves of energy that overwhelm or fry electronic components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each has its respective strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While HPMs can have a near-instant effect on electronic guts, its efficacy is stunted at greater ranges. And while high-energy lasers can punch holes through all sorts of material, <\/b>certain atmospheric conditions including fog or wind can impede or distort the shot. Neither needs to be mechanically reloaded, like a rifle or tank, but they are reliant on power production<\/a> and output, which can be disrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn very controlled conditions, they seem to perform as they should,\u201d Thomas Withington, an analyst and author specializing in electronic warfare and military communications, said in an interview. The issue, though, is \u201chow do you translate that to the front line in Ukraine?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps<\/a> are all, right now, attempting to fold directed-energy systems into offensive and defensive capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pentagon\u2019s Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office and the Army\u2019s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office in June tapped five companies to demonstrate weaponry capable of taking down one-way attack drones. The get-together at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona featured a Lockheed Martin-made Mobile Radio Frequency-Integrated UAS Suppressor, or MORFIUS, a tube-launched, fixed-wing drone that flies at a target and lets loose a high-power microwave pulse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The service months earlier awarded a $66 million deal<\/a> to Epirus for prototypes of its drone-zapping Leonidas device. The tech has since been paired with the Anduril Industries Lattice command-and-control program for the Marine Corps and DroneShield\u2019s sensing-and-jamming DroneSentry system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, the Air Force in April tested its Tactical High-power Operational Responder, or THOR, at Kirtland Air Force Base\u2019s Chestnut Test Site in New Mexico. The system looks like a shipping container with a satellite dish welded to the top; its effects, however, are less innocuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adrian Lucero, a program manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory\u2019s<\/a> directed energy directorate, in a statement at the time of testing said THOR \u201cwas exceptionally effective at disabling\u201d its targets. The lab employs approximately 11,500 military, civilian and contractor personnel, and manages a $7 billion portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe THOR team flew numerous drones at the THOR system to simulate a real-world swarm attack,\u201d Lucero said. \u201cTHOR has never been tested against these types of drones before, but this did not stop the system from dropping the targets out of the sky with its non-kinetic, speed-of-light high-power microwave\u201d pulses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In December 2021, the Navy announced the successful testing of a high-energy laser aboard the USS Portland while it sailed through the Gulf of Aden<\/a>. A previous test was done in May 2020, during which a small drone was disabled over the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The service has been at the forefront of trying to deploy practical directed-energy weapons. Both Lockheed\u2019s High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, or HELIOS, and the in-house Optical Dazzling Interdictor Navy, or ODIN, to tackle small boats and intelligence-gathering systems, have been installed aboard destroyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\t![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-694929652.jpg.jpg\")
State of play<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screen-Shot-2023-08-04-at-10.52.13-AM.png.png\")
Testing, testing<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Stryker-Leonidas.jpg.jpg\")