The United States will invest about $850 million in the creation of laser weapons against missiles and UAVs

At the first stage, it is planned to create container laser systems with a power of about 150 kilowatts. In the future, the power of the systems is planned to be increased to 300-500 kilowatts – a level that the Pentagon considers necessary for the reliable interception of cruise missiles. The complexes must be adapted for placement on both land and sea platforms.

Laser weapons are considered as one of the elements of the Golden Dome missile defense system being created by the Donald Trump administration. Its main advantages are considered to be practically unlimited ammunition in the presence of electricity and a significantly lower cost of one interception compared to the use of anti-aircraft missiles.

nLIGHT and Lockheed Martin participated in a directed energy weapons demonstration on June 23 at White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his deputy for research and development, Emil Michael, were shown five laser and microwave systems ranging from 20 to 300 kilowatts. Among them was the Lockheed Martin-built 300-kilowatt Valkyrie complex. Hegseth later said he saw laser weapons “completely stopping incoming drones and cruise missiles.”

Israel is ahead of the United States in deploying a laser air defense system. On December 28, 2025, the Rafael concern and the Defense Research and Development Directorate of the Ministry of Defense handed over the first serial Magen Or (Iron Beam) complex to the IDF Air Force. The system, with a power of about 100 kilowatts, is designed to intercept drones, missiles and mortar shells at a distance of up to several kilometers. In March 2026, the IDF officially confirmed the first combat use of such a laser system, renamed “Or Eitan” (in honor of Captain Eitan Yitzhak Oster, an Egoz special forces officer who died on October 2, 2024 in battle in southern Lebanon).