The Geography of Military Laser Weapons
Editor’s note: Explore the interactive version of this map on Google Maps.
As of October 2025, 16 countries are publicly known to possess high-energy laser weapons.
The United States and China are currently the most advanced, both in terms of quality and quantity of systems under development and deployment. Russia, Israel, and the United Kingdom are not far behind, with Israel in particular standing out as the first country to officially use a mature laser weapon system in combat.
But the directed energy ecosystem is diversifying rapidly. Turkey has cultivated its own indigenous industry, Chinese-made systems have already proliferated to Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Belarus, and Australia recently inked the world’s first publicly confirmed export contract for a 100-kilowatt class system with an unnamed European NATO member state. The laser club is growing larger by the week.
To capture this ongoing transformation, Laser Wars has built this useful (if simple) map to track the global high-energy laser arsenal as it exists today. It’s a snapshot of a fast-moving field: new deployments, exports, and demonstrators emerge almost monthly, and the geography of laser weapons is shifting just as quickly as the technology itself.
Because Substack does not allow interactive embeds, check out Google Maps for the full experience:
✉️ Have addition or critique of this map you’d like to suggest? Drop me a line:
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