The Army Wants an ‘Enduring’ Laser Weapon To Zap Drones Out of the Sky
The Enduring High Energy Laser is a new attempt at a vehicle-mounted laser weapon system.
The US Army plans on procuring a pair of new vehicle-mounted laser weapons under a new program to shoot down incoming drones and missiles as its current flagship system faces serious growing pains, according to newly published budget documents.
The Army’s fiscal year 2026 budget request publicly released in late June includes $49.75 million for the procurement of “up to two” so-called Enduring High Energy Laser (E-HEL) weapons based on the results of a recent integrated systems test, as well as $11.13 million in research and development funding for the systems.
E-HEL is “expected” to become the Army’s first directed energy program of record, according to the service.
First unveiled by the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) in a July 2024 special notice, E-HEL is a new rapid prototyping effort aimed at developing “an air defense weapon system capable of fixed site defense and/or integration onto an existing Army platform,” according to the new budget documents, interoperable with the service’s Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) system and capable of swatting Group 1-3 drones out of the sky with ease.
The budget documents reveal that Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the largest military shipbuilder in the United States, received a $14.82 million contract for E-HEL system design, development, integration, and systems engineering in February 2025, a contract the company publicly announced the following March. The documents also indicate that HII is set to receive a follow-on $8.54 million contract in November 2025.
If all goes according to plan, E-HEL will transition to a program of record under the Army’s Program Executive Office Missiles and Space in fiscal year 2027, the budget documents say. And according to the 2024 RCCTO special notice on the effort, officials are considering using the Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) Rapid Fielding pathway to produce as many as 20 laser weapon systems for frontline use.
The Army’s E-HEL R&D funding is part of the service’s larger $74.83 million budget request for the Stryker-mounted Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) program, an increase from $63.25 million last year. This funding reflects not just E-HEL development but continued investment in existing mobile laser efforts like the RCCTO’s four Stryker-mounted DE M-SHORAD vehicles and two Infantry Squad Vehicle-mounted Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL) systems.
Outfitted with a 50 kilowatt Raytheon laser array and informally dubbed “Guardian” by Army officials, the DE M-SHORAD system is currently the service’s chief laser weapon for mobile short-range air defense, designed to cheaply and efficiently shoot down rocket, artillery, and mortar fire, rotary wing aircraft, and hostile drones like those which have increasingly threatened US troops deployed to the Middle East in recent years.
The Army’s E-HEL funding request comes amid recently disclosed problems with the service’s existing DE M-SHORAD system. As Laser Wars was first to report, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment published earlier in June revealed that RCCTO had delayed the system’s formal transition to a program of record by two years after downrange testing in Iraq revealed it was “not mature enough” yet for duty, with the service even considering ditching the Stryker as its host platform of choice.
The pivotal integrated systems test detailed in the budget documents, which occurred this June at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, involved not just RCCTO’s DE M-SHORAD vehicle but other “prototype [directed energy] weapons,” according to a recent Army press release on the live-fire exercise. While it’s unclear what other systems were involved, a defense industry-funded variant of the DE M-SHORAD vehicle featuring a BlueHalo LOCUST Laser Weapon System was scheduled to appear during a June event at Fort Sill, an executive at lead integrator Leonardo DRS told Janes in March.
According to the Army, the results of the June testing will “shape future development and procurement” of the E-HEL. Indeed, the GAO report states that if the Army’s current DE M-SHORAD system does end up transitioning to a program office, the Army “will refer to the effort as Enduring High Energy Laser.”
Beyond budgetary and organizational details and context, it’s worth pointing out that there is no explicit mention of the notional E-HEL’s potential power output in budget documents and contracting notices concerning the initiative. According to Army Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, who oversees the service’s directed energy efforts, this omission is deliberate: RCCTO is focused on fielding a system that actually works in an operational setting rather than pinning its progress to a specific target kilowatt level.
“It’s easy to talk about lasers in regards to kilowatts because it’s easy to get your head wrapped around more kilowatts, probably better, less kilowatts, probably not as effective or lethal,” Rasch told Defense News in August 2024. “But that’s only one factor that comes into how effective the system is downrange.”
Rasch added that RCCTO’s efforts with stationary systems like the 20 kw Palletized-Higher Energy Laser (P-HEL) that’s currently operational downrange and the smaller mobile laser systems recently installed onto the ISV and Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) “have taught the service what could potentially be the sweet spot for balancing laser power needs with other factors that play into taking out enemy air drones of various sizes,” as Defense News reported at the time.
It might be too strong to call DE M-SHORAD a cautionary tale: indeed, the Army’s new budget request and the recent GAO report suggest that despite existing issues with the system, its technologies (and lessons) will certainly lay the groundwork for any future laser weapon development. But even if DE M-SHORAD fails to live up to expectations, the new E-HEL push shows the Army isn’t giving up on battlefield laser weapons anytime soon – just giving them a smarter second chance at protecting US troops abroad.
BRAC Arlington 20301 or disappear into Valley💀
20301 is a Trust Fund and its the Bust Out Trust Fund.