The US Air Force’s (USAF) Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) office has issued a request for information (RFI) to industry partners for directed energy weapons that could be used in an experimentation campaign.

The RFI seeks input on the industry capability to provide a directed energy weapons system for targeting group 1 and group 2 unmanned aircraft systems (UASs).

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

The USAF will use directed energy technology to counter UASs as part of an upcoming experimentation demonstration.

The testing is in line with the Air Force Directed Energy Weapons Flight Plan signed in May.

USAF chief scientist Dr Greg Zacharias said: “We identified directed energy as a game-changing technology area in our airforce strategy and pressed forward with developing a Flight Plan to define what we needed to do to get from the laboratory to operational capability.

“We identified directed energy as a game-changing technology area in our airforce strategy and pressed forward with developing a Flight Plan to define what we needed to do to get from the laboratory to operational capability.”

“Experimentation and prototyping are critical tools to help make this happen.”

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

The directed energy weapons such as high-energy lasers and high-power microwaves can provide the ability to precisely engage targets of interest with little to no collateral impacts, while they can also provide protection to USAF assets, the USAF stated.

USAF experimentation campaign programme manager Dr Michael Jirjis said: “Forward base defence was one of the used cases for directed energy outlined in the Flight Plan.

“We’re looking to assess capabilities and maturity of directed energy technologies available today and in the near-term.”

The SDPE office is expected to conduct the experimentation campaign next year.