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After months of bold<\/a> promises<\/a> about its directed energy weapon ambitions, the U.S. military is putting its money where its mouth is.<\/p>\n The U.S. Defense Department\u2019s published<\/a> a \u201cskinny\u201d version at its historic $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request on April 3, with plans to release<\/a> additional details (including my precious justification books and their program-by-program spending plans) on April 21. While this budget release only offers a high-level view of the U.S. military\u2019s spending priorities, a preliminary <\/em>analysis indicates the Pentagon wants to pour more than $2 billion into research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) programs involving high-energy laser weapons and other directed energy systems in fiscal year 2027.<\/p>\n This funding, if approved, would not just mark a major increase over the more than $1 billion<\/a> in annual expenditures on directed energy RDT&E over the last five years, but also significantly outpace the Pentagon\u2019s average yearly spending on such efforts under the Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as \u201cStar Wars\u201d)<\/a> across the entire life of that program. This might just be the most significant U.S. military investment in directed energy weapons research, well, ever.<\/p>\n Below, you\u2019ll find some high-level insights on proposed directed energy weapon spending culled from the Pentagon\u2019s fiscal year 2027 budget request.<\/p>\n Despite the Pentagon\u2019 stated goal of fielding laser weapons at scale within the next three years<\/a>, the procurement section <\/a>of the department\u2019s fiscal year 2027 budget request does not currently detail any major purchases to that end. The sole procurement line item explicitly for directed energy\u2014\u2018Directed Energy Systems\u2019,\u2019 which covers the U.S. Navy\u2019s low-power AN\/SEQ-4 Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN)<\/a> laser weapons, according<\/a> to previous budget documents\u2014is completely zeroed out, down from the $3 million requested in fiscal year 2026 to support the eight ODIN systems already installed across the service\u2019s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer fleet. The second program element, however, is a U.S. Army item that includes a $994.1 million request (up from $693.4 million authorized last year) and previously involved the Enduring High Energy Laser (E-HEL) <\/a>system, 24 of which the service plans to<\/a> \u201cproduce and rapidly field\u201d in the coming years as its first official directed energy program of record. Given that E-HEL units cost nearly $25 million apiece, according<\/a> the Pentagon\u2019s fiscal year 2026 budget request, the boost in the Army\u2019s C-sUAS line item could potentially cover the procurement of additional systems. Unfortunately, we won\u2019t know for sure until the full justification books are released later in April.<\/p>\n Defense-wide laser weapon RDT&E efforts overseen by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) saw significant increases in the Pentagon\u2019s fiscal year 2027 budget request, to $44.5 million requested under the \u2018High Energy Laser Advanced Component Development & Prototype\u2019 program element (up from $5.5 million in fiscal year 2026) and $201 million requested under the \u2018High Energy Laser Advanced Technology Program\u2019 (up from $120 million).<\/p>\n Managed by the Pentagon\u2019s Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (JDETO), these program elements are focused on accelerating the maturation of directed energy systems like laser weapons to \u201cenable the demonstration of military utility for mission areas\u201d across the U.S. military, according<\/a> to the department\u2019s fiscal year 2026 budget request. The High Energy Laser Advanced Technology Program in particular includes the Joint Laser Weapon System (JLWS)<\/a>, a collaboration between the Army and Navy to designed to counter cruise missile threats as part of the President Donald Trump\u2019s \u2018Golden Dome for America\u2019 missile defense shield. (It also likely includes the Pulsed High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative, a new start in fiscal year 2026 designed to explore the potential applications of pulsed laser weapons.<\/a>)<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the question of the Pentagon\u2019s $580 million in RDT&E funding for JIATF 401 detailed<\/a> in its fiscal year 2027 budget request. While the organization is certainly interested in directed energy weapons<\/a> given their potential counter-drone applications, it\u2019s unclear from the budget documents how much of that funding will apply to such initiatives given the its expansive remit.<\/p>\n The Pentagon\u2019s fiscal year 2027 budget request contains<\/a> $452 million in proposed RDT&E spending for the \u201cdevelopment, integration, and assessment\u201d of directed energy weapons in support of Golden Dome, more than triple the $142 million enacted under the \u2018One Big Beautiful Bill Act\u2019 reconciliation package that Trump signed into law in July 2025. Like last year\u2019s funding, this particular program element is also reliant on a reconciliation package separate from the Pentagon\u2019s base budget request.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth pointing out that this spending increase is marked as procurement, even though it\u2019s featured in the RDT&E documentation of the Pentagon\u2019s budget request. This is likely because this proposed funding will focus on purchasing technology to develop and test prototypes or prove a concept, while the separate procurement budget title will go to acquiring systems for active fielding.<\/p>\n With the cancellation of the 50 kilowatt Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD)<\/a> and 300 kw Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL)<\/a> efforts, the Army now has three publicly-known laser weapons initiatives in the works: E-HEL, JLWS, and the Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL)<\/a> that\u2019s already actively shooting down drones (at home, at least<\/a>).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the fates of these projects appear ambiguous at the moment, mostly due to the structure of the Pentagon\u2019s budget request. Apart from defense-wide programs, the budget documents only contains program elements that explicitly cover laser weapons or directed energy systems for the Navy and U.S. Air Force, but not for the Army. Indeed, AMP-HEL and E-HEL fall under the Army\u2019s Maneuver – Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) item, while JLWS work falls under the Expanded Mission Area Missile (EMAM) program. And while both of those larger programs are poised for significant spending increases in fiscal year 2027\u2014$460 million requested for M-SHORAD (up from $296 million) and $235 million requested for EMAM (up from $63 million)\u2014how those funds will trickle down to their subordinate directed energy projects remains to be seen.<\/p>\n When senior Navy leaders declared<\/a> that \u201cthe dream of a laser on every ship can become a real one\u201d at the beginning of the year, they were absolutely not kidding. The service\u2019s fiscal year 2027 budget request includes a significant increase in funding under its \u2018Directed Energy and Electric Weapon Systems\u2019 program element, with the service asking for more than $94 million in RDT&E spending, up from $14.5 million in fiscal year 2026.<\/p>\n Without the justification books, the applications of this funding are also unclear. The service has no stated plans to procure more ODIN systems, or additional 60 kw High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS)<\/a> weapons beyond the lone system installed aboard the destroyer USS Preble, according<\/a> to last year\u2019s budget request. In addition, the service\u2019s 300 kw High Energy Laser Counter [Anti-Ship Cruise Missile] Project (HELCAP)<\/a> was officially slated for completion in fiscal year 2026, the budget documents say<\/a>.<\/p>\n This leaves a few potential options to consider: the Navy\u2019s funding boost is likely focused on either jumpstarting HELIOS development, advancing the Office of Naval Research\u2019s 400 kw \u201cSONGBOW<\/a>\u2019 initiative, or something related the unidentified (and potentially new) laser weapon<\/a> the service reportedly tested in the Red Sea last year. We\u2019ll have to wait for the release of this year\u2019s justification books to find out.<\/p>\n Despite plans to pursue yet another airborne laser weapon<\/a> and revisit ground-based laser systems<\/a> to protect airbases and other installations, the Air Force\u2019s budget request actually indicates a small decrease in RDT&E funding for under its \u2018Directed Energy Technology\u2019 program element, which fell from $96 million requested in fiscal year 2026 to just under $92 million requested for fiscal year 2027. The service\u2019s other directed energy program element, \u2018Directed Energy Prototyping,\u2019 remained zeroed out after falling from $1.31 million in fiscal year 2025 to zero in fiscal year 2026.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a>The Pentagon\u2019s skinny fiscal year 2027 budget request suggests a familiar pattern for directed energy weapons: sustained (and in many cases accelerating) investment in RDT&E, but no definitive signals that the technology is ready to transition into procurement and fielding at scale just yet. Despite years of promises that these systems are nearing operational relevance, the funding profile still points to a force that is continuing to experiment, refine, and prototype rather than putting them in the hands of U.S. service members in the immediate term.<\/p>\n Of course, that picture could shift once the full budget justification books are released later this month. But for now, the future of directed energy research and development appears brighter than ever.<\/p>\n This article is republished with permission from <\/em>Laser Wars<\/a>, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology.<\/em><\/p>\nNo Significant Directed Energy Procurement (Yet)<\/h2>\n
That said, the procurement documents do contain two \u2018Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-sUAS)\u2019 program elements that could encompass directed energy procurement efforts. The first program element is a defense-wide item under \u2018Major Equipment, TJS [The Joint Staff]\u2019 that includes an $800 million request (up from $732 million authorized last year), which is likely for the Pentagon\u2019s new Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) established last year, according to the corresponding fiscal year 2027 budget documents for RDT&E<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>Defense-Wide Laser Weapon RDT&E Increases, With Room to Grow<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>A Major RDT&E Boost for Golden Dome Directed Energy Efforts<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>U.S. Army Laser Weapon RDT&E Is Unclear<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>U.S. Navy Laser Weapon RDT&E Expands<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>U.S. Air Force Laser Weapon RDT&E Shrinks, But Not By Much<\/h2>\n