Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Nov. 4, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF11882 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Kelley M. Sayler, John R. Hoehn |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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Summary:
Both the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the House
Armed Services Committee’s bipartisan Future of Defense
Task Force Report have identified directed energy as a
technology that could have a significant impact on U.S.
national security in the years to come. As the Department of
Defense (DOD) continues to invest in directed-energy (DE)
weapons, Congress may consider implications for defense
authorizations, appropriations, and oversight.
DOD defines DE weapons as those using concentrated
electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to
“incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy
equipment, facilities, and/or personnel.” DE weapons
include high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-powered
microwave (HPM) weapons; other DE weapons, such as
particle beam weapons, are outside the scope of this In
Focus.
HELs might be used by ground forces in short-range air
defense (SHORAD), counter-unmanned aircraft systems
(C-UAS), or counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM)
missions. The weapons might be used to “dazzle” (i.e.,
temporarily disable) or damage satellites and sensors. This
could in turn interfere with intelligence-gathering
operations; military communications; and positioning,
navigation, and timing systems used for weapons targeting.
In addition, HELs could theoretically provide options for
boost-phase missile intercept, given their speed-of-light
travel time; however, experts disagree on the affordability,
technological feasibility, and utility of this application.
In general, HELs might offer lower costs per shot and—
assuming access to a sufficient power supply—deeper
magazines compared with traditional munitions. (Although
a number of different types of HELs exist, many of the
United States’ current programs are solid state lasers, which
are fueled by electrical power. As a result, the cost per shot
is equivalent to the cost of the electrical power required to
fire the shot.) This could in turn produce a favorable costexchange ratio for the defender, whose marginal costs
would be significantly lower than those of the aggressor.
Similarly, HPM weapons could provide a nonkinetic means
of disabling adversary electronics and communications
systems. These weapons could potentially generate effects
over wider areas than HELs, which emit a narrower beam
of energy. As a result, some analysts have noted that HPM
weapons might provide more effective area defense against
missile salvos and swarms of drones. HPM weapons have
also been considered for use as nonlethal “heat ray”
systems for crowd control.
