From R&D to Live Deployments: Directed Energy FY21 Budget Highlights

For over 40 years, the DoD has sought to develop and deploy high energy laser weapons. In FY21, this dream could finally become a reality.

After decades of research and testing, the DoD is finally on the cusp of successful directed energy deployment. At $106.6 billion, the DoD’s FY 2021 RDT&E budget is the largest ever requested and is “laser focused” on developing next generation capabilities including directed energy. The FY21 budget also illustrates the transitioning of DE technology out of R&D and into live production as well as an emphasis on near-term DE capabilities vs. the development of more complex space-based technology.

To shed light on these trends and provide some insight into the DoD’s rapidly evolving approach to DE deployment, we created this budget infographic. DOWNLOAD to review our full analysis.