Army’s laser weapons ‘pretty mature,’ could ‘contribute’ to next-gen missile defense
High-power microwave weapons, however, require more research, according to the head of the Space and Missile Defense Command's Technical Center.
By Theresa Hitchens and Ashley Roque on August 07, 2025 4:28 pm
Raytheon's 50kW-class high-energy laser weapon systems as part of the U.S. Army’s Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) program. (Photo: Raytheon)
SMD 2025 — The US Army has been ramping up work with directed energy weapons in recent years and is eyeing potential applications for a broader missile defense effort, according to a senior service official.
“We can contribute these non-kinetic effects,” Keith Krapels, head of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Technical Center, said on Tuesday at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium. “The technologies for laser directed energy right now are pretty mature. … We just need to pull laser directed energy across the finish line … and start producing the numbers.”
Krapels did not say to what initiative the tech could contribute, but he was speaking on a panel dedicated to next-generation space and missile defense. That would logically include the Trump administration’s high-profile Golden Dome effort, except that the Pentagon has barred officials from discussing that specific program at the symposium, as Breaking Defense previously reported.
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/08/armys-laser-weapons-pretty-mature-could-contribute-to-next-gen-missile-defense/
