Pentagon Wants More Money for Lasers To Defend Against Missiles, Drone Swarms
By Patrick Tucker Technology Editor Read bio
November 13, 2018
Directed-energy weapons are with a factor of two or three to being militarily useful, the Pentagon’s top scientist said.
The U.S. military will request more money to develop lasers, microwave beams, and other directed-energy defenses to fight off missiles and drone swarms, the Pentagon’s top weapons engineer said Tuesday. “You’re going to see, in upcoming budgets for missile defense, a renewed emphasis on laser scaling [meaning scaling up the power of lasers] across several technologies,†Michael Griffin, defense undersecretary for research and engineering, said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic International Studies.
Griffin, a former NASA administrator, has previously floated the idea of firing neutral particle beams from satellites to disable enemy missiles shortly after launch.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/11/pentagon-wants-more-money-lasers-defend-against-missiles-drone-swarms/152796/?oref=d-river
