Breaking Defense

Airborne lasers are back in the sights of the Missile Defense Agency — a decade after the first attempt to build a system collapsed, having swallowed 16 years and $5 billion in research and development.

This time, however, MDA is taking things slow. Rather than jumping straight to shooting down missiles in space, the agency is first focusing on using low-powered lasers for tracking and working its way toward higher-powered systems for intercept.

“Tracking characterization work will grow MDA’s capabilities for the use of low-power tracking lasers. The systems associated with this risk reduction work are also directly applicable to more advanced systems, including non-kinetic intercept systems,” an agency spokesperson told Breaking Defense.

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