Now, the Pentagon says it wants to finally make them an operational reality within the next three.<\/p>\n
Speaking on a panel at the National Defense Industrial Association\u2019s annual\u00a0Pacific Operational Science and Technology conference<\/a>\u00a0in Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 9, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies Michael Dodd stated that the Defense Department plans on fielding directed energy weapons such as lasers and high-powered microwaves at scale within the next 36 months to defend service members from the threat of hostile drones, National Defense magazine\u00a0reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the Pentagon has\u00a0deployed<\/a>\u00a0a handful of laser weapons overseas in recent years for operational testing and officially\u00a0designated<\/a>\u00a0\u201cscaled directed energy\u201d as a critical technology area in November, this accelerated push for widespread fielding comes as U.S. forces engaged in the Operation Epic Fury\u00a0struggle<\/a>\u00a0to counter waves of Iranian Shahed drones\u00a0raining down<\/a>\u00a0across the Middle East,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to fellow panelist Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering James Mazol.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be able to deal with mass, and we need to be able to defeat mass that\u2019s coming at us,\u201d Mazol said,\u00a0per<\/a>\u00a0National Defense.<\/p>\n These ambitions appear to have support at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Speaking at a White House press conference on Epic Fury on March 9, President Donald Trump\u00a0touted<\/a>\u00a0the potential of laser weapons as a cheaper alternative to the pricey interceptor missiles U.S. forces currently rely on to counter drones and other aerial threats.<\/p>\n \u201cThe laser technology that we have now is incredible,\u201d Trump, who previously\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0laser weapons a key feature of his proposed \u201cTrump-class\u201d battleship, said. \u201cIt\u2019s coming out pretty soon. Where literally lasers will do the work of, at a lot less cost, what the Patriots are doing and what other things are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MU3SWQNW55F7LPBP2TRH5SJOSQ.jpg\")