Gen. Michael Guetlein

New Capabilities

Leading program; cost estimate raised to $185 billion in March 2026

The U.S. military spent four decades chasing a laser that could shoot down a cruise missile. On April 28, 2026, the Pentagon detailed its latest attempt: the Joint Laser Weapon System, a containerized 150-kilowatt beam—scalable toward 500 kilowatts—that the Army and Navy will share, mounting it on trucks, ships, or anywhere a 20-foot container can sit.

Updated 4 hours ago