U.S. Army to have its own laser weapon systems by 2023

At a House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities session on Feb. 24, the U.S. Army told lawmakers that the service will have laser weapons by fiscal 2023.

By U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology told members of the subcommittee that service is pursuing a “step-wise demonstration of capability” when questioned why its taking so long to have a program of record.

“We have to make sure the lasers work and do the full set of scopes against the threats we project. And those threats include the counter-rockets, counter-artillery and counter-mortar as well as [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] and cruise missile threats.”