Sep 4, 2026 · 1h 1m
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Lasers promise cheap defense, but power and weather still decide
Why Laser Beams Are the Hottest New Tech in Defense
Directed-energy weapons could change the economics of defending against drones and missiles, but infrastructure, supply chains, and battlefield conditions limit their reach.
- 1Lasers and high-powered microwaves offer different ways to counter drones, with microwaves potentially affecting electronics across wider areas.
- 2Low cost per shot could stretch defenses against drones and missiles, but power generation, weather, and deployment conditions remain decisive.
- 3Iron Beam may show whether directed energy can move from promising research to reliable, scalable battlefield capability.
Don't miss
The discussion of Iron Beam turns directed energy from a technology forecast into a testable question about range, reliability, engagement time, and cost.
The brief
Wayne Sanders, a retired Army colonel and Bloomberg Intelligence defense analyst, traces directed energy from Star Wars-era research to fielded laser and microwave systems.
Lasers concentrate heat on individual targets, while high-powered microwaves can disrupt electronics across wider areas, including drone swarms; both depend on substantial power.
The appeal is economic: a reusable system could reduce the cost of engaging drones and missiles, especially when advanced interceptors are scarce and expensive.
That promise meets practical limits in weather, range, power generation, focusing, critical minerals, and the industrial capacity needed to scale systems beyond prototypes.
Israel’s Iron Beam offers a real-world test: its range, engagement time, reliability, and economics could reveal whether laser warfare is ready for sustained operations.
The broader lesson is that directed energy may lower the cost of individual engagements without eliminating scarcity; it shifts the bottleneck toward infrastructure and production.
What was said on this episode
23 statements · 17 positive · 5 negative · 1 neutral
Lasers target individual objects, while high-powered microwaves can affect multiple electronic systems.
“a laser is essentially a precision weapon. It concentrates energy into a narrow... beam and typically attacks one target at a time. But when you look at high powered microwaves, those weapons attack electronics. It's a larger beam that can potentially affect multiple systems simultaneously.”
Listen at 10:36
High-powered microwaves are suited to attacking drone swarms.
“a drone swarm perspective, you're going to want a high-powered microwave. You want something that is a wider... a wider range you want something that's going to be able to hit multiple targets at the same time”
Listen at 12:35
Lasers can destroy individual incoming ballistic missiles.
“if you're pointing a laser directly at a single ballistic missile that's coming at you you want to be able to destroy that thing you want to be able to knock that out of the sky”
Listen at 12:52
Military directed-energy systems need to become deployable on trucks and ships.
“the deployability aspect of where a lot of the militaries are going right now is I need to be able to throw something onto a truck. I need to be able to throw something onto a ship”
Listen at 14:43
The tactical high energy laser demonstrated destruction of rockets and artillery rounds in flight.
“It demonstrated that a laser could actually destroy rockets and artillery rounds in flight.”
Listen at 19:20
DARPA’s MIRACL laser destroyed live short-range rockets.
“it destroyed live short-range rockets as well.”
Listen at 19:33
The Navy has a ship-mounted laser weapon platform.
“the Navy does have that”
Listen at 21:38
RF drone guns can disable drones.
“We do have drone guns that can be used for RF and be able to push out to knock drones out of the sky”
Listen at 21:51
Power generation and compression constrain handheld laser weapons.
“I would say it's power generation and compression.”
Listen at 22:28
Directed-energy weapons have very low cost per shot.
“one of the reasons that you look for high-powered microwaves, high-energy laser solutions, this directed energy platform, is because the cost per shot is very low.”
Listen at 24:51
Exquisite missile interceptors remain necessary against hypersonic weapons.
“You cannot get rid of those because you have adversaries who have hypersonic weapons.”
Listen at 25:57
Hypersonic weapons require exquisite defensive capabilities for interception.
“If a hypersonic weapon is launched, you are going to want to use one of your more exquisite capabilities to make sure that you can knock that thing out of the sky”
Listen at 26:02
Military forces retain self-defense authority as their top priority.
“the military knows at that point in time. They also know that they have the right to self-defense. So that is always priority number one”
Listen at 30:39
Tactical commanders should use whatever weapons are necessary to protect their forces.
“you are going to use whatever is necessary to protect your force. It doesn't matter.”
Listen at 33:53
Defense demand is increasing for low-cost interceptors and directed-energy systems.
“low cost containerized munitions, those low cost interceptors, the high powered microwave, high energy laser, the urgency and demand for some of these systems is because exactly what you're saying is I want at my level”
Listen at 36:53
China controls 85–90% of some critical-mineral supply chains.
“They have sometimes 85, even 90 percent of the supply chain.”
Listen at 42:09
Human oversight remains in tactical-strike AI decisions.
“Those are things that are still maintained. Those are human in the loop AI problems.”
Listen at 47:59
Military AI cannot yet independently execute target destruction.
“we are not at the point where AI is going to go, I see that truck, I've been given an order to destroy it, and I am going to take that target execution authority that I mentioned earlier and just drop the bomb.”
Listen at 49:15
Directed-energy development is transitioning from research into procurement.
“it is transitioning to procurement.”
Listen at 50:05
A 50-kilowatt laser can destroy an incoming drone in one engagement.
“the 50 kilowatt laser is capable of if a drone is flying at you, you should be able to knock that drone down at one time.”
Listen at 52:06
A static one-megawatt laser is limited by its dependence on shore power.
“Having a one megawatt laser that is static because you need to plug it into shore power. is is limited in a certain aspect”
Listen at 53:16
Israel’s Iron Beam is approximately 150 kilowatts, versus 50-kilowatt U.S. systems.
“Iron Beam is kind of leading the way, right? It's about, I think, if I'm not mistaken, it's about 150 kilowatts compared to our 50 kilowatts.”
Listen at 54:27
Atmospheric conditions affect laser-system performance.
“atmospherics does affect. uh how that system actually works”
Listen at 55:17
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