Lockheed Martin will scale its combat laser technology to a 500 kW-class laser. It will be the most powerful laser Lockheed Martin has produced, topping its 300 kW-class laser power level developed under a contract from the Department of Defense's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering, OUSD (R&E). The 500 kW-class laser, developed under a new contract just awarded by OUSD (R&E), is the second phase of the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI).

The U.S. Army is working through a variety of challenges with directed-energy weapons for air defense, including how to affordably manufacture the high-tech capability and sustain it on the battlefield.

This contract is worth about $221 million for development alone.