DoD awards $86M initial contract for containerized laser prototypes, total program up to $847M. Lockheed Martin and nLIGHT are partners. Laser weapons aim to slash cost-per-intercept for drone and cruise missile threats.
The Department of Defense is moving ahead with a new generation of laser weapons, awarding an initial $86 million to nLIGHT Defense and Lockheed Martin Aculight for containerized high-energy laser prototypes. The total program ceiling is $847 million.
The awards fall under the Joint Laser Weapon Systems program. The Pentagon said the prototypes will start at roughly 150 kilowatts of power, with plans to scale to 300–500 kilowatts – the range officials believe is needed to take down cruise missiles. A separate track under the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative will develop a 500-kilowatt solution.
The push reflects a long-standing Pentagon interest in directed energy as a cheaper alternative to traditional interceptors. Laser shots cost far less per engagement than missiles, and with enough electricity the systems can fire repeatedly. Bigger targets demand more power, and the heat generated by the weapons requires robust cooling. The Army has tested lasers mounted on Stryker vehicles; the Navy has explored battery packs for extra power.
“By developing containerized high-energy laser weapons, the Department aims to provide combatant commanders with scalable, cost-effective intercept solutions for asymmetric and high-tier adversary threats,” the Pentagon said in a press release.
Emil Michael, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said the department is “partnering with industry to rapidly deliver deep magazine directed energy capabilities to the Joint Force that can be seamlessly deployed across multiple domains.”
The Pentagon described the systems as offering “speed-of-light engagement, exceptionally deep magazines and significantly lower cost-per-intercept” – attributes it called essential for countering drone swarms and advanced cruise missiles.
Lockheed Martin’s laser division is one of the two awardees. The company’s LMT stock page carries an Alpha Score of 45 out of 100, a Mixed label, reflecting the balance between its core defense backlog and the still-experimental nature of directed energy programs. Many directed-energy efforts have been cut or canceled in the past because they proved too difficult or costly to field.
Last month, the Pentagon held a live-fire demonstration of several laser and directed-energy weapons for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It was the first publicly known instance of a defense secretary observing such an event.
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