The Return of ‘Star Wars': The Pentagon Is Eyeing Space Lasers for Missile Defense

The American dream of an orbital directed energy weapons is alive and well.

A 1985 artist's concept of a space-based laser satellite defense system. (US National Archives and Records Administration)

The US Defense Department may be reviving one of its most ambitious ideas ever, Laser Wars has learned: orbital laser weapons for missile defense.

The Missile Defense Agency’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for research, development,…