The Missile Defense Agency is advancing a new set of initiatives to develop and integrate high-energy lasers into the nation's layered missile defense system, marking a sharp turn toward operationalizing directed energy to complement -- and in some cases relieve -- traditional kinetic defenses. MDA Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins laid out the agency’s new plans to expand directed-energy (DE) work across multiple fronts, including laser prototypes, live-fire testing and an operational concept development for a new airborne laser system...
