The Pentagon wants lasers. Can anyone build them fast enough?

This article is republished with permission from Laser Wars, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. The U.S. military has a message for America’s directed energy industry: it’s time to build. In a written posture statement submitted to the House Armed Services Committee ahead of a hearing on the U.S. Defense Department’s fiscal year 2027 budget request on April 29, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that the Pentagon plans on buying “tens to hundreds” of directed energy weapons like high-energy laser systems in the coming years—the beginning of what Hegseth dubbed a “strong and consistent demand signal” to the U.S. defense industrial base that, after years of producing just “a limited number of prototypes,” the U.S. military is deadly serious about fielding such capabilities at scale. Here’s the relevant section from Hegseth’s posture statement: Directed Energy (DE) weapons represent a transformative capability, yet the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) is currently postured to produce only a limited number of prototypes. There are significant vulnerabilities and gaps in our DE defense manufacturing capabilities. To address this, the Department must create a strong and consistent demand signal for the production of greater quantities of these weapons, on the order of tens to hundreds of units. This increased demand is essential to enable the DIB’s manufacturing capacity to mature and scale to meet the tactical innovation of the warfighter. Overcoming the “business as usual” acquisition mindset is paramount. The Department must reform its procurement processes, warfighting tactics, and policy limitations to “demystify” Directed Energy weapons and facilitate their integration into the force structure. This includes developing new concepts of operation, training programs, and support infrastructure to ensure that these advanced weapons can be effectively fielded to our warfighters and employed on the battlefield. The succes